


The Red Button

by Kennisiou



Series: Kenni's Serious Fics [1]
Category: Inside Out (2015)
Genre: Coming of Age, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 03:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 21
Words: 42,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4247340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kennisiou/pseuds/Kennisiou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Riley's thirteenth birthday drew ever closer, Joy and the other emotions became more and more curious about that big red button...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Thack!_

The plastic puck clattered across the ice, weaving its way through thickets of legs.

Swarms of pre-teens launched themselves after it like seagulls pursuing a meal, sticks at the ready and desperation in the air. For the clock was counting down, and the scores were tied at 2 points apiece.

The tension in the air could've been cut with a knife, it was that thick, and yet all hope, it seemed, was in the hands of the new kid from Minnesota.

Eyes narrowed with determination, this petite blonde went by the name of Riley. Her shoulder length hair was dragged into a tiny ponytail at the back, to make sure it stayed out of the way during these dire moments, because the last thing she wanted was to beat the burly ass defender, and then lose to the classic 'hair in the eye'. But perhaps all of this paranoia was in her head; after all, that's where all the excitement was happening.

"C'mon, c'monnnn..." A red blocky emotion known as Anger growled at the controls, punching at whatever dials and buttons might have made a difference. "Time's runnin' out, dammit! 23 seconds!"

"Ohh, calm it Anger! Win or lose, I'm sure Dad'll be proud of us!" A slender, yellow emotion named Joy tried to placate his trademark impatience. "Why, we'll get a piggyback ride home for sure!"

"That's great, Joy..." Anger bit back his sarcasm, "Now if we could just concentrate on the NOW instead of the AFTER, that'd be-"

"Ugh, did you see the pits on that guy in the stands?" A third emotion interrupted. Sweeping a veil of envy-green hair from her face, the like coloured Disgust clearly wasn't paying much attention either.

"Distracting, you guys!" Anger roared, charging forwards with two of the many joysticks to illustrate this. "Ugh, women. They just don't understand sports, huh Fear?"

"The heart's pumping at like 140 beats a minute! It's gonna _explode_!" Anger's 'ray of hope' screamed into his left ear. Clad in what looked like a black and white sweater vest, with purple pants and a bow tie, the purple emotion continued to emit high pitched whiny noises, with no apparent direction or purpose.

"Ugh! Is ANYONE but me paying attention to this game?!" Anger cried out in his frustration, carefully weaving another joystick in order to keep control of both his stress and the game. Meanwhile, Fear was panicking, Disgust was repulsed, and Joy was daydreaming. Anger dragged his free hand across his face, watching the final seconds tick down on the clock...

"What if... We don't make it?"

"Well, then a draw's still better than a loss, so that'll be okay," Anger grunted at the sullen sounding voice. "It's an away game anyway, so it's still good for a piggyb-"

But Anger was stopped mid sentence by his own realisation. Daring tear his eyes off the game for but a moment, he spied the tiny blue emotion staring intently at the ensuing madness on screen.

"Sadness?!" He spluttered out of surprise. "H-how long you been there?!"

"...most of the game." Sadness' voice was caught between a sigh and a deadpan, clearly a little unhappy about being forgotten. Again.

"Well, don't just stand there! Gimme a hand already!" Anger instructed, madly throwing the levers and twisting dials in a desperate attempt to keep control.

"You actually... Want my help?" Sadness' eyes widened in astonishment.

"Yeah, of course!" A gruff Anger answered as calmly as the situation would allow, "you're the only one payin' attention other than me, dammit!"

"Oh... O-okay!" Sadness let out a meek smile, sidling alongside a frenetic Anger, "w-what can I do?"

"We gotta keep her stable." Anger advised, much less stressed now that his workload had been reduced. "Just keep things balanced for fifteen seconds or so. If we can do that, with a little bit of luck, we're takin' this game!"

"Umm... But what if we miss?"

"Then I'm pretty sure we're still in for reward of some kind. After all, we ain't losin'."

"...will there be ice cream?"

"I dunno, yes?"

"I like ice cream!" Sadness cried, as she upped the ante on the controls.

"Yeah! Now we're gettin' it!" Anger roared, this time with happiness. "Alright, twelve seconds. Let's make 'em count!"

Working in what was best described as 'clumsy coordination', Sadness and Anger made their best efforts to bring that puck home. After all, why settle for a draw when you've got a chance of winning?

Her legs were feeling wobbly, her heart was pounding in her ears, and she seemed much more aware of her breathing than normal. However, sandwiched in between two tenacious defenders, Riley Anderson wasn't giving up just yet!

With a stylish pirouette-esque twist outsmarting the one on the right, who overestimated his shot and spun out after missing her, Riley was much more able to focus on the remaining defender; a skinny guy who looked a shade older than herself. All the while, that goal drew closer, as did the countdown; they were down to just six seconds!

"C'mon..." Anger was visibly sweating, watching Riley negotiate the puck from side to side, her evasive manoeuvres proving effective against this second defender, "just a little closer..."

"Four seconds, Anger!" Fear shrieked, suddenly tuning in. "FOUR SECONDS!"

"I know, dammit!" Anger lashed back at him. "But ya can't just blindly-"

"Shoot!" Sadness gasped, launching two sticks forward at the same time, and watching as the puck was launched from Riley's hockey stick...

Anger's jaw hit the floor.

The defender was unable to grab a hold of it.

The clock was still counting down.

The goalkeeper was poised and ready...

_Three..._

_Two..._

The goalkeeper lunged.

_One..._

_'thackadack!'_

 

And like the revving of an engine, the crowd slowly realised what happened. It started off as confused mumbling, before building, and suddenly there was an eruption of cheering!

Three short blasts escaped the referee's whistle, and even supporters of the rival team were politely applauding, in celebration of what few could deny, was an incredible climax.

A last second tiebreaker!

"We did it!" Anger literally erupted with excitement, picking up Sadness and squashing her in a huge bear hug. "Well DONE, Sadness! You helped score the winning goal!"

"Yeah, you really did well!" Fear chipped in, his nerves having subsided now that the game was over. "I can't wait for that adrenaline rush!"

"Hunh? Well would you look at that! We won!" A previously oblivious Joy chimed, grabbing Disgust's attention, "...oh. So we did."

"...heh." The little blue emotion let out the smallest of smiles, having met with living proof that she actually made a positive impact on Riley's life. Resting on the shoulders of both Fear and Anger, it was a rare moment for Sadness. As Riley herself was lifted into the air by her team mates, the tiny blue emotion, for once, wasn't so blue. In fact, one could even say she was happy!

A light, warm wind began to blow around Headquarters, filling them all with a strange, fuzzy feeling; meanwhile a crystal orb dropped down from the archives, and rolled down the tubes before presenting itself on the central console.

"Is that...?" Joy mumbled, eyes widening with shock.

"I-it's a new core memory!" Fear cried, lowering Sadness back down to the ground. "It's gotta be our first good memory of San Francisco!"

"...and we made that." Sadness stated, for once not questioning an event. "C-can I touch it?"

"Of course we can!" Anger urged her forwards. "After all, we're the only ones who did anything in that hockey match!"

Both emotions held the core memory between them, and the little orb began to slowly change colour, from its original empty grey, to a jazzy fusion of red and blue, the divide between the colours meandering across the centre like a river.

"Alright! San Fran is finally starting to feel like home!" Joy leapt into the air, all the while noticing something happening outside of headquarters, "...guys, look!"

Joy beckoned the others to her location, while Anger carefully placed the new core emotion in its console and met up with the others.

"What's happening to Hockey Island?!" He grunted. "We didn't break it, did we?"

"It's growing." Sadness smiled gently, watching as the red, pyramid-like shapes began to emerge. Twisting and metallic, the new structure stretched out towards Family Island, and linked up with it!

"...why are they combining?" Fear seemed worried, as the new structure joined onto Family Island's Golden Gate Bridge feature, stretching into an even longer, more impressive one.

"Because San Francisco is important to Riley now." Joy explained. "Both family and hockey are here, so now they're connected!"

"...I think?"

"Well, it doesn't matter WHY." Anger felt the need to interject. "The important thing is, the core memories are developing further. And that's good! Hell, they can even combine now!"

"Great observation, Captain Obvious." Disgust swept her fringe, causing Anger to boil internally at her biting sarcasm. "...Eugh, _what_  is that noise?"

"Noise?" Joy muttered, returning to the command console and 'fine tuning' the ears, "what noise?"

Five emotions listened intently, oblivious to Riley's other senses, which would've given them a much faster answer. Gorging on ice cream, the twelve year old was walking with both of her parents down a hallway, only to come across an unusual noise from one of the rooms...


	2. Sticks and Tones

Walking down a hallway with her parents, gorging happily on ice cream, Riley Anderson found herself distracted by a noise coming from what she assumed was an adjacent classroom. Rhythmic and repeating, the young girl couldn't help but edge the door open and listen, only for-

"Oh, it's more than a feelin~." The vocals lilted into her ears, inviting the door open a crack more,

"When I, hear that old song, they used to, play~"

"C'mon Riley, let's get moving." Her dad urged, tugging gently at his daughter's arm, "It's a long drive back, and I've got work in the morning."

Meanwhile, in her head there was controversy;

"But Dad said we gotta go!" Fear cried, his arms flailing. "And we don't wanna make him mad, do we?!"

"He'll be fiiiiine." Joy laughed off Fear's concerns. "After all, we like this song!"

"Yeah, and Dad does too!" Anger chipped in, with a heavy slap to the back for Fear. "So I'm sure he won't mind for two minutes."

"two minutes...?" Repeated from Riley's mouth, and her Dad twitched his moustache in a show of disapproval.

"But we'll hit traffic at this rate, honey..."

"I-I just wanna hear the solo!" Riley stammered, as the door crept further open with an incriminating squeak.

"...alright then," her Dad smiled in defeat, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving the green light.

"Til I see Mary Ann walking away," The girl's voice echoed through the doorway, as that metaphor became suspiciously real as the emotions inside her head were in celebration.

"We got the green light! Time to hit it!" Anger yelled, and punched a button on the console. The volume was suddenly amped up, and the inside of Headquarters literally turned green, provoking cheers from at least three of the five.

"I see my Mary Ann walking a-waaaaay-" the singer purred into her mic. "A-waaaaayyyyyy, yeahhh~"

And then came that solo:

The ascending notes of two guitars working in harmony, punctuated by the timely rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat of the drums, and the occasional ssshim! of a cymbal. The sound was flawless, and Riley was having a whale of a time on the other side of the door, playing air guitar with her hands and scrunching up her face in concentration, while her dad shook his head fondly in the background.

Cleverly co-ordinated fingerwork had speedy notes bouncing through the acoustics of the room, and inside Riley's head it looked a little _too much_ like a 70s disco, with the 'green light' still illuminating Headquarters, and a disco ball that had fallen down from somewhere, revolving slowly and keeping spirits high. Anger had also joined in on the air guitar, using a less than willing Fear as said guitar due to his long and skinny frame. Disgust was pointedly disinterested, being Disgust, but at least Joy and Sadness were expressing themselves to the music in their own way, with the former rocking her body side to side in time with the notes, and Sadness simply tapping her feet, keeping an eye out to make sure no one was looking.

And it was all just in time for the squeadly weadly tapped out notes, followed by another crash of a cymbal, and the de, scen, ding choooords~

"Whoo-oa!"

The door swung open, and a young girl faceplanted into the floor, shocking the band of teenagers.

"What the?! Why did we fall?! Why'd no one hit the balance?!" Joy gasped, rushing over to the control panel and hitting various buttons to stabilise Riley.

"I was uh... too busy smashin' my guitar." Anger admitted sheepishly, still wielding a battered Fear.

"I _was_ the guitar..." Fear let out a feeble mutter, shakily raising an index finger to signal his presence.

"I wasn't paying attention." Disgust seemed almost proud to admit.

"I... liked the music." Sadness mumbled, slowly lowering her arms. Her dancing was a bit more energetic than she'd first planned, it seemed.

"Ahh, well..." Joy let out a meek chuckle. "Let's just see how this pans out, huh? We're good at dealing with awkward situations, right?"

Meanwhile...

"Wow!" Riley burst up from the ground, the pain of crashing into it face-first seemingly forgotten, "T-that was awesome!"

"Looks like we've got a fan, guys." Their bassist smirked, a tall, skinny blonde boy with a veil of hair obscuring his eyes.

"Pff, don't include yourself in this. No one cares about the bassist." The drummer teased at him, provoking an irritated grin from said bassist. Meanwhile, their singer had removed her guitar from around her, and jumped from the stage, stumbling across the slippery floor in order to check on Riley.

"You okay, kid?" She smiled, offering Riley a hand to help herself up.

The young girl nodded her head fervently. After all she'd just heard a song she loves - live! - and played by real people too! Ones she could actually meet and talk to!

"Yeahh!" Riley cried, still not noticing the bruise across her nose. "Y-you guys were amazing! What other songs can you play?! I love all the-"

"C'mon Riley, it's about time we got going!" Her dad interjected, tapping his watch. "We're gonna be late..."

"Ohh, it's just across town, honey!" Riley's mom soothed his temper with a hand on the shoulder. "A few minutes won't make any difference..."

"But still... I really don't wanna hit traffic!" Her father sighed, before realising how rude he was being. "O-oh, and great work, kids. Good to hear the classics haven't been lost to the past."

"Why thank you, sir!" The band's singer smiled warmly, before returning her attention to Riley. "Well uhh, looks like you gotta go, huh?"

"Yeah..." Riley shuffled her feet, staring at the older girl with wide eyes; she had to leave already?

"Hey, wait a sec..." The drummer asked, pointing to Riley with his drumsticks. "You're the kid that won the hockey game, right? Go to Roosevelt?"

"...yeah...?" Riley's confusion showed in her slow response. "W-why-"

"Roosevelt?! We're there in two weeks, for Battle of the Bands!"

"You are?!" Riley gasped. What a ridiculous coincidence. "Th-that's awesome!"

"D'you reckon you'd be able to cheer for us?" The singer brushed her auburn curls out of her face. "It'll be good to have someone who knows us there!"

"W-well, sure!" Riley grinned up at her. "But who'm I cheering for?"

"Our band's name is Visceral Defenestrat-" The drummer called from across the room, before being interrupted by the bassist throwing what looked like a half-eaten bar of chocolate at him, "quiet down, Stevie. Drummers can't have opinions!"

"Oh hush, bassist." 'Stevie' threw one of his drumsticks back, "at least I'm important enough to have a name! You're just 'bassist'."

"...Ignore them." The lead singer suppressed a chuckle, while their other guitarist buried her face into her hand.

"We kinda... Don't have a name yet. Creative differences, shall we say?"

Riley nodded, absorbing the teenager's every word.

"So 'til then, we're just Amber," she pointed to their other guitarist, who nodded silently in response, "Stevie," the drummer raised his hand, with one remaining drumstick in it, "and... Bassist." She cracked a grin.

"Aww, c'mon!" 'Bassist' cried, as Stevie the drummer literally fell off of his seat with laughter, "that's not my name!"

"like I said! Not important!" Stevie teased once again, shoving the shorter boy playfully.

"And I'm Jess." She smiled, placing a hand on Riley's shoulder, "what's your name, squirt?"

"...R-Riley." The younger girl stammered, her heartbeat having elevated from that simple contact. This didn't go un-noticed inside her head, where Fear was understandably worried about it. Sadness, however, took note of the gentle glow that had started to shine on a certain red button on the console; a button whose function remained mysterious and unknown.

"Well, pleased to meet ya Riley." Jess smiled, offering the girl a fist bump.

"phoooom~" Riley giggled, waving away her hand after they bumped, "I-it was really good meeting you all as well. I'll cheer for you at Battle of the Bands!"

"I'd like that." said Jess. "So I'll seeya in two- oh, hell!" She began, but ended up facepalming at the telltale crash in the background, where Stevie had literally fallen _into_ his drum kit, "dammit, guys! This stuff is expensive!"

Amber the other guitarist chuckled quietly to herself amidst the chaos, and Stevie cried, "not my fault! He did it!"

"Bassist...!" Jess still managed a grin, but kept her serious face on, "why...?"

"Time to go now, Riley dear." Her mother stole her attention back via a shake of the shoulders. Riley simply nodded, and followed after her parents, her head still turning to watch her new favourite band.

"Just for that, you don't get to pick the next song, Bassist!" Jess scolded him, followed by a timely groan of annoyance from Bassist as the door closed, sealing them off from Riley.

* * *

 

The girl remained silent for half the trip home, and literally all parties were concerned.

"Is... something wrong, Riley?" Her worried mom asked, peering over and watching her in the back seat; just staring into nothingness.

"I don't get it. Why aren't the words comin' out?" Anger tapped at a prompter screen on the central console. It was full of phrases Riley apparently wanted to say, but weren't escaping her lips for some of reason.

"Must have some kinda congestion." Joy shrugged lightly, measuring a few gauges further down the console, "She's got so many things she wants to say at once, that none of them can get out!"

"Heh. Looks like we really did hit traffic." Anger smirked, carefully wheeling a dial next to the prompter screen, to try and 'ease' her words out, "What's the protocol for this, Fear?"

"Well, we've got quite a backlog of things she wants to say - some from fifteen minutes ago!" Fear scratched his head, glancing down the list on the prompter and growing concerned, "So gimme a second..."

The skinny purple emotion grabbed what looked like a remote control from the side of the console, attached via a spirally cord, like they had on old telephones, "Looks like we'll have to go into manual override, and flush out the surplus. Wanna flick that switch there, Anger?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure thing."

A dial was switched to the left, and Fear carefully navigated through the prompter's screen of phrases with the remote control, selecting and deleting the less appropriate ones.

"'I'm gonna smash that defender's face if he doesn't get out of the way...' not something we want. 'That guitar playing was so cool'...yeah, we can keep that one. 'Hey, that person's pretty cute!', not right now they aren't..."

"TELL me it wasn't the guy with the pits?!" Disgust shouted from across the room.

"Can't tell, Disgust! You'd have to check the Hippocampus for that!" Fear called back, carefully deleting more unwanted phrases, "...do we want a puppy, guys? They're kinda messy, and we could pick up some nasty diseases from them..."

"I like puppies..." Sadness mumbled, as Joy surveyed the remaining half a dozen or so things still on the prompter, "Alright yeah, that looks good." she noted, "Keep the puppies one, and fire her back up again?"

"Gotcha." Fear nodded, holding down a flashing blue button to 'reset' Riley, "Wanna switch her back on auto for me, Anger?"

"Will do." Anger flicked the switch back, "Hey, why'd you delete the one about using a spray can as a flamethrower? That one sounded awesome!"

"Because we don't want Mom and Dad to think we're a psychopath!" Fear narrowed his eyebrows, "Rrright, and we're ready to talk!"

"...Mom, can I get a guitar?!" Riley suddenly blurted out, shocking her already concerned mother.

"...oops! Looks like two of the sentences merged!" Fear let out a meek chuckle, "...sometimes happens when you delete phrases. They all crash into each other to take up the free space, and then they come out at once... then next thing ya know, this happens."

"Hey, don't complain!" Anger cried, "A guitar's WAY better than a puppy!"

"You want a... what, Riley?" Her mother's eyes widened in surprise, "A guitar? Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Riley replied, her voice high pitched and exuberant, "I-I wanna get really good, and start a band, a-and-"

"Are you sure you'll be able to dedicate enough time to it?" Her father asked, sounding like the voice of experience, "I mean, on top of school, homework AND hockey practice?"

"Nah, homework's not important!" Riley began with a snide chuckle, before meeting with displeased looks from both parents, "...just kidding! I'll be responsible, I promise!"

"...can we afford it, dear?" Riley's mother muttered to her husband. The man's moustached twitched.

"Well, you _did_ win a hockey game tonight." Dad smiled, glancing at his daughter via the rear view mirror, "and you've made us a promise, too. Your Mom and I will talk about it, okay Riley?"

"O-okay!" Riley practically gasped out her response, nodding vigorously and grinning from ear to ear, "Thanks, mom! Thanks, dad!"

* * *

And the car finally began to turn down familiar looking streets. Jess and her band of misfits seemed eons away to Riley now, however the girl wasn't sad. After all, she'd potentially be seeing them again in two weeks, and she could be getting her very own guitar to play!

Things were certainly coming up Riley...

However, as it turned out, the day's events had proven too much on the young girl. Before they could make it back, Riley had fallen sound asleep in the back seat, punctuated with trademark snoring.

"...aaaand we're asleep!" Joy held back a giggle, "Looks like we're going to night mode a little early today! Who's on Dream Duty?"

"That'd be me." Fear raised a hand. "You guys should be free to just head off now. She's not gonna wake up any time soon."

"Alright, sounds good to me!" Anger stretched out his arms, and pat Fear on the back, "Lemme know if you're up to another round of Air Guitar tomorrow, huh Fear?"

"E-heh..." the purple emotion let out an awkward chuckle as everyone except himself filtered out of Headquarters.

"Have a good night, Fear." Sadness waved gently at him, a large book tucked under her other arm.

"Sleep well, Sadness." Fear smiled back, watching the tiny blue emotion make an exit from the room. Grabbing a mug and filling a kettle, Fear rubbed his already tired eyes and muttered, "Gonna be a looong night."


	3. Red Alert!

It had already been a long night for fear. Not only had Riley fallen asleep considerably earlier than normal, but time seemed to be running far more slowly than normal, to the point where it hadn't even reached midnight yet. After struggling to control her sore, clumsy body through a late night visit to the restroom, and then 'helping' her change into pyjamas for comfort, Riley once again fell asleep within moments, snoring loudly due to the blocked nose she'd developed in the last few hours.

"Looks like we've got a cold comin' up." He muttered to no one, shifting a few dials on the console as he drained his fourth mug of coffee, "that'll teach us for playing on ice, I suppose..."

Of course, the fake hockey pitch was really just plastic and not ice, but placebos are placebos after all. Nose in a book, Fear took a glance at the clock and decided it was time to run the hourly checks.

"Alright, what's on Dream Radio?" He again spoke to no one, tearing his eyes away from _Anger is from Mars, Fear is from Venus_ and flicking another dial on the console.

Static permeated the deathly ambience of 'Headquarters at night', and voices began to slowly crackle through it. Adjusting dials slightly to better 'tune' Dream Radio, Fear listened carefully for said voices.

"And... winner is... ley Anders...!" The voice again dissolved into just static.

"...probably something about hockey." Fear shrugged, yawning heavily and switching Dream Radio off. Another switch was twisted, and this time the bright screen fired up, bathing Headquarters in the familiar gentle blue glow.

Dream TV was showing something similar but not identical to Dream Radio

"Ayup. Makes sense." Fear refilled his mug, watching the dream as it took place. The hockey puck floated across the 'pitch' at a static pace, bouncing off of acoustic guitars at either end. Every time the puck would reach a guitar, it would bounce off and strum a chord on said guitar. Low 'A' chords sent the puck zooming across the field to each other, keeping Fear satisfied.

"...alright, looks good." He chuckled to himself, careful to rest his feet on the console in a place where they wouldn't accidentally push any buttons, and flicking back through his book to find his page again.

"Makes for good ambience too." He muttered. Hockey pucks flew across the pitch, bouncing off of the guitars with the expected 'zzzzummm' sounds of A chords, and everything seemed just fine for Fear's Dream Duty shift. As far as he was concerned, the rest of the night could continue like this, and he'd have no problems with that. 

But of course, things weren't about to stay the same.

Little did Fear realise, the game was speeding up.

What was originally a single chord every five seconds or so had increased dramatically, evolving into a rapid, pummelling bassline;

'dugadadugadadugadadunn~'

The 'home' guitar could barely stand up to the onslaught of pucks being fired at it, and before long, lyrics had joined in with the bass, as well as a rhythm guitar line and drums;

"Back to the front lines... back to the night." A harsh sounding nasal voice tore through the rink, "Medieval marauders, under the lights~"

Fear seemed more interested in his book than the developments however. After all, Anger liked this sort of music, so he was somewhat used to it.

But things were changing up on the rink.

"Back for the plunder, thrill of the flames," the voice continued, as guitar strings fell down from the ceiling, and began looping themselves around each other,

"the roar of the thunder, back in the game~"

The acoustic guitars had begun to assimilate in the centre of the pitch, creating an enormous black body. "Storming the castle, swords in the air. Killing the monsters, in their own lair~"

Several hockey stick 'legs' began to emerge from said body...

"Lighting the torches, setting the stage~"

And a monster revealed itself, just at the point where Fear looked up from his book;

"You get what you ask for, right in the face~!"

"WHAAH?!" He let out an unholy shriek, flailing from his chair and slamming down on a button to stop the nightmare, "Whung... W-why?! Spiders?!"

However, just as the dream was 'paused', a loud siren started blaring throughout Headquarters, and only now did Fear realise that he'd pressed the wrong button.

"Uh oh..." He gulped, his nerves already shot from the nope he'd just seen on Dream Vision, however he didn't want to look incompetent at the simplest of jobs. Nooo, that was a far worse punishment than witnessing a mere nightmare, terrifying or no.

So Fear removed his hand from the enormous red button on the dash, and instead picked up a phone to contact,

"Hello! Get me Dream Productions, now!" He barked into it, sweat cascading from his brow. Would he be able to lie convincingly enough...?

Amidst the red flashing and confusion, Dream Productions finally picked up, just as doors were opening in the background.

"...Yeah, hello! Fear here!" He introduced himself in a curt manner, "SPIDERS?! Really?!"

"What's wrong with that?" A disinterested sounding voice droned from the other side of the phone, "we like spiders."

"Yeah, well not while I'm on Dream Duty we don't!" Fear hissed into the phone, making sure to raise a polite finger at a sleepy Joy - clad in a pale green night dress - to acknowledge her presence, "the rest of the stuff was fine, but SPIDERS? Sorry, too much. Recycle this into another dream, for Riley's sake."

"Aww, do we have to?" The lady from Dream Productions sighed over the phone, "we hadn't even reached the guitar solo yet..."

"I don't care about solos that involve spiders, miss!" Fear seethed, now surrounded by four groggy emotions, "that's a sol-NO, ya hear me? New dream, please."

Without even giving the lady a chance to respond, Fear shakily hung up the phone, "uhh... h-hey guys...! Sorry to wake ya."

"Somethin' wrong, Fear?" Joy yawned, rubbing her eyes, "that alert was pretty loud..."

"eheh, nightmare." Fear was visibly shaking from his nerves, "pretty bad one too."

"I was... gonna get annoyed at you and stuff." Anger muttered despondently at him, itching his stomach, "but then I noticed just how AWESOME this dream was! Man, can we get a snapshot of this or something? It's amazing!"

"It's gross." A dishevelled looking Disgust scrunched up her face at the 'paused' dream, which depicted an anthropomorphic spider-like creature, with a body formed from fused guitars, hockey sticks for legs, and guitar strings for its web.

"Well errm..." Joy struggled for a positive remark, "I'm... glad you've kept the place tidy! And you got Dream Productions to recycle this into something less scary. That's good!"

"But spiders aren't scary..." Sadness mumbled, squishing a plush dinosaur and yawning quietly, "they're just misunderstood."

Sadness focused her bare eyes long enough, and they widened with intrigue when she spotted something different about the console; a particular button was no longer flashing.

"Just... try not to wake us all up next time, okay Fear?" Joy smiled, giving the purple emotion a comforting hug, "we're gonna get back to sleep now, alright?"

"Sure thing, guys." Fear's voice was scratchy and faint; had he seriously just gotten away with that?

"Yeah, try not to screw anything else up?" Disgust sighed. Ruffling her nest of bed hair, she tried to tame it into place before disappearing back into her own room.

"Thanks for wakin' us all up, Fear." Anger slapped him on the back, "and I actually mean that. Heavy metal hockey spider? How freakin' awesome is that?!"

"Eheh, pretty awesome I guess..." Fear smiled nervously, before being left alone in the room with just himself and Sadness.

"Things might be weird in the morning... okay?" She managed a small smile, before toddling off in her bunny slippers and polar bear pyjamas.

"alright..." Fear wheezed, overriding the flashing red light at last with the turn of a key. Stunned beyond belief, the purple emotion just stared at nothing for a while.

"what did... she mean by that?" He muttered to no one.

Meanwhile, a groggy Riley crashed back to sleep in bed, equally unaware of what was to come.


	4. Chapter 4

A barely conscious Fear shuffled in his seat. The crinkling of newspaper stomped past him as Anger let out his first yawn of the day. "Mornin' Fear. Doing okay?"

"...kinda tired." The emotion's eyes were bloodshot and strained, as if they were desperate to simply close. Lying with his face sideways on the console, the contents of his mug still upright, however stone cold, he mumbled, "any...thing good in the paper?"

"Ohh, nothin' much." Anger's eyes widened at one of the headlines, "just a few bumps and bruises that need nursing, and apparently _Heavy Metal Hockey Spider_ is a big hit in Dream Production; the fans love it! They're even workin' on a sequel called  _The Web of Despair._ man, I gotta see that!"

"...oh." Fear mumbled, his eyelids quickly becoming his enemies. "Yaaaay~" he hoped he at least sounded enthusiastic.

"Oh wait, here's a thing." Anger mentioned. Slapping the newspaper down in front of Fear, his voice hit a volatile crescendo. "Why in the hell are we BLEEDING?!"

Fear was literally thrown from his seat at this statement. The surprise on its own was enough, but Anger's delivery of it only magnified the blow!

"B-bleeding?!" He spluttered, scrambling to his feet and snatching at the paper, "How? Why? Where?!"

"You don't, even wanna _know_ where, man." Anger buried his face in one palm, "just work out how to fix us, got it?!"

"a-a-alright!" Fear stammered, coaxing his exhausted joints into working once again, and manically pressing buttons to try and first source the problem, then fix it. "Nothing's working! Manual override, system reboot, nothing! Something's really wrong!"

"...this is because of that alarm last night, isn't it?"

Fear could practically see the pieces sliding together in Anger's head, not unlike a block puzzle. Should be continue trying to hide behind the lie? Or come clean while this small window of opportunity had presented itself?

"...alright, I give!" Fear gasped, grabbing a hold of Anger's shirt and shaking him, "I pushed that glowy button last night by accident! It was what tripped the alarm!"

"That button...?"

Anger stared intently at the button on the dash for a good few minutes, noticing that it was no longer glowing, "yeahh... I'd been wondering what this button did for a while! Guess now we know!"

"Eheh, yeah..." Fear edged away from Anger, ready to make a hasty escape.

"Don't understand why, though." Anger scratched his chin, pushing a few buttons to check for any other 'problems', "I mean, what _good_ could possibly come out of making us bleed? It just makes no freakin' sense!"

"I'll just... go, and uhh... check the books?" Fear stammered, because simply running away was way too obvious.

"Nuh-uh! No way dude." Anger pre-empted him, grabbing fear by the collar and _dragging_ him back to the console, "we got a few minutes _at best_ to figure out how the hell to fix this. Once everyone else is here, that means it's time for Riley to wake up. And if Riley wakes up, she's gonna flip. And _you'll_ have to explain to the others why she's BLEEDING OUT OF HER-"

"Oh, my gods!"

Both Fear and Anger spun around simultaneously, only to be confronted with Disgust. Her eyes lidded and her hair comparable to a haystack, it was clear she'd only just woken up. For once however, she was showing an emotion other than her trademark.

"She's bleeding from where?!" The green emotion sobbed, her eyes already spilling over. Fear whispered an answer into her ear, and Disgust forced back a retch, but after coughing it down again, gasped out a surprising level of concern. "Oh, gosh! Is she okay?!"

"She's fine, don't worry Disgust." Anger sighed, delving into the controls once again in an attempt to solve the 'problem' before Riley properly awoke.

"I'm fairly sure this is normal, Disgust." Fear scratched his head, "After all, that button existed for a reason..."

"You... what?" Disgust wiped away visible tears, " _You_ did this?!"

"By accident!" Fear made a poor attempt at defending himself.

"Ooohhh..." Disgust clenched a fist, "can I punch him, Anger?"

"B-but I... n-n-no, wait a sec-" Fear stammered, backing away from Disgust with his hands stretched out.

"As fun as that sounds..." Anger let out a growling sigh, "It'd be a bad idea, Disgust. After all, I think this was supposed to happen sooner or later."

"You really think so?" Disgust queried, holding fear by the collar with her punching arm at the ready.

"Well yeah, why else would it be just sittin' here on the dashboard?" Anger pointed to the huge red button, "I mean, if it were like a self-destruct button or something, wouldn't it be harder to activate?"

"I guess so..." Disgust dropped Fear onto the ground in a dishevelled pile, "But what's it even do? It's not like she's gonna gain anything from bleeding, is it?"

"Not sure..." Anger squinted at the button, "let's check the books and see what they have to say about puh...berty?"

"Pubberty?" What a weird word." Disgust wrinkled her nose.

"Err, I think that first part's pronounced 'pew'." Fear announced, still lying in a heap on the floor.

"No one asked you, Riley wrecker." Disgust glared at him.

"Hey, hey, cool it Disgust." Anger slapped a hand down on her shoulder, provoking an eye twitch from the green emotion, "accidentally or not, lying and deceiving or not, I think he did the right thing pressin' that button. Give him a break will ya? He's been up all night."

"Pff, it's only Dream Duty. Not exactly tough." Disgust turned away with a huff.

"Well, if you actually _bothered_ to give Dream Duty a shot, maybe you'd know." Anger narrowed his eyes at her.

"I can't, I need my beauty sleep." Disgust smiled condescendingly, pampering her hair back into shape.

"...yeah. ANYway, quit bullyin' Fear over this. He might've done a good thing."

"Whatever..." Disgust walked away from the conversation, "just... make sure Riley's okay... okay?" I'll leave the books and stuff to you two."

"I sometimes wonder why she's even here..." Anger muttered under his breath, "y'alright, Fear?"

Anger picked up the purple emotion by the scruff of the neck with one arm, and stood him up again.

"Y-yeah, I'm... fine..." Fear dusted himself off, "Speaking of books, Sadness had one with her last night. Maybe she knows somethin' about this?"

"What makes ya think that?" Anger raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Sadness is good at reading up on stuff..." Said Fear, "and she said something strange last night when that alarm went off. Something like 'things might be weird tomorrow.'."

"Hmm..." Anger mused, staring off into the distance...

* * *

"Sadness!" Anger bellowed, hammering on the blue emotion's door, "wake up Sadness, we got somethin' important to discuss!"

"Do ya have to be so loud?" Fear hissed at him, "I'm sure you wouldn't like it if people started knockin' your door down first thing in the morning!"

"Yeah, it's almost as bad as setting off an alarm in the middle of the night and wakin' everyone up, huh?" Anger flashed a grin back at the purple emotion, silencing him instantly.

Anger returned his ready fist to Sadness' door, and was about to pummel it some more, however a metallic scratching sounded from inside.

The sliding of metal bolts and twisting of keys, Anger was clearly successful in waking her up. Several more locks and bolts were undone, before the door opened a crack, and a little blue head peered out from behind it, "...something wrong?"

"Hey there Sadness, you okay?" Anger made sure to put on his most soothing voice.

"Y-yeah, I guess so?" Sadness mumbled, opening the door a little wider, "can I help with something?"

"Well errm... By chance, were you reading any manuals last night?" Anger asked, noticing that Sadness' glasses-less eyes were just staring in his vague direction rather than _at_ him.

"M-hmm?" Sadness nodded in mid-yawn, "I... I was researching."

"Oh, really, you were?" Anger made sure to smile, "Cause we, uhh..."

"Something strange has happened!" Fear interjected, ignoring Anger's forced 'careful' approach and simply getting right to the point, " a-and we think you might know what's going on!"

"I-is this because of that alarm going off?" Sadness mumbled.

The door opened properly, and Sadness carefully navigated her way back to a small bedside table, where her glasses were perched.

"Hmm, so this is what Sadness' room looks like..." Anger mumbled at the doorway, watching the little blue emotion coax one large book out of a precariously balanced stack.

"Y-you can come in... If you want." Sadness smiled gently, cracking the book open and thumbing through the pages. Both Fear and Anger accepted her offer, getting a much better look at what was inside. Aside from the obvious bed in the centre, resting against the back wall, both were left wondering just how she managed to sleep with the sheer volume of plush animals on the bed, ranging from simple cats and sheep, to a miniature form of what seemed to be Riley's imaginary friend Bing-Bong, and a unicorn by the pillow that seemed to be a bit of a favourite.

Both guests took a seat at the edge of the bed, almost instantly sinking into it as if it were quicksand, and noticed that basically every spare inch of wall was stacked with shelving, full of either more plush toys or books. The only exception was a picture framed above the bed, featuring the five of them.

"Her room's so different to mine." Anger felt it necessary to whisper, prompting an exasperated roll of the eyes from Fear.

"Umm... I think this is what you're after." Sadness announced, propping the book in front of them both.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh..." Anger muttered, reading the pages that Sadness had specified, "so it looks like you _were_ meant to push that button, Fear. Good job."

"Yaaaay~" Fear mumbled weakly, his eyes getting heavier by the second. Sitting on a bed really wasn't helping his efforts to stay awake.

"And WHAT?" Anger burst out, "This is gonna happen EVERY MONTH? For the next FORTY YEARS?!"

"I-it's perfectly normal, don't worry Anger." Sadness tried to calm the blocky red emotion down, "here... Hold Mr Snuffles, he'll make you feel better."

"B-but I don't understand how-" the plush dog was 'applied' to Anger, "how can somethin' like this-" he calmly sat back down on the bed, "p-possibly be good?"

And next thing Sadness knew, Anger was squishing Mr Snuffles the plush dog in a tight bear hug, "i-it just don't make any sense, Sadness!"

"It will do soon, don't worry." Sadness tried to soothe him. Retrieving _Finding Liberty in Puberty_ from Anger, she explained, "it says we'll be getting someone in who can teach us all about this stuff, okay? Everything will be fine..."

"If... if you say so." Anger mumbled, the plush dog still completely ensnared in his grip, "C-c'mon Fear, let's get back before I lose it in here."

Anger glanced over his shoulder, only to find that the purple emotion had fallen asleep on Sadness' bed, snoring loudly with both legs still dangling over the edge.

"Fear, c'mon..." Anger shook him gently, his emotions failing on him, "w-we gotta go look after Riley."

"It'll be okay, Anger. I'll wake him up. You go check on Headquarters." Sadness smiled, replacing her book at the top of another pile.

"Alright then..." Anger sobbed, giving Mr. Snuffles one last squish before standing up from the bed, "stupid idiot. It's all his fault, and now I gotta clean it up for him, a-and-"

"There there, it's alright..." Sadness comforted him with a pat on the back, "don't you worry, okay?"

"Mhmm..." Anger sniffled, stumbling out of Sadness' bedroom and back into Headquarters. "...what the hell was that?" He dragged one hand across his face in disbelief, "Ehh, don't care. More important things to worry about!"

Stomping back into the main room, Anger was taken aback with surprise when he noticed Disgust manning the controls.

"What're you doin' here?" He asked, incredulous, as the green emotion glared at him through her overhanging fringe.

"Taking care of Riley. Duh!" She rolled her eyes, monitoring Riley's vital signs, "Someone had to do it, because you went and disappeared!"

"Yeahh, sorry 'bout that Disgust." Anger made absolutely sure his eyes were dry before approaching her properly, "Fear and I were just checkin' on something important."

"So where _is_ Fear?" Disgust asked, her lips thin and her arms folded.

"...he fell asleep on Sadness' bed."

"What were you doing bothering Sadness at this hour? We don't want her up yet."

"Like I said, important stuff. And don't be mean to Sadness! She actually does work around here!"

"...whatever. Anyway, Joy'll be up soon, and then she can look at this mess you GUYS made!"

"Fine then." Anger shunted her away from the controls, "You just go back to hiding underneath whatever rock you crawled from."

"...maybe I will." Disgust sneered, before flouncing off across the room. "Oh, morning Joy!" She snickered as Anger jumped like he'd been stung. Anger narrowed his eyes at the green emotion as she again trounced away, only to again receive another shock,

"Someone say my name?"

"MORning, Joy!" Anger half-gasped, wrenching back a clutch at his chest, and turning it into a cheerful wave, "H-how are-"

"Oh gosh, is something wrong?!" The yellow emotion gasped, instantly seeing through Anger's facade. "W-why... are we bleeding?" She asked, eyes wide with concern, "That's not right! D-did Fear do this?"

"Long story, I'll explain later." Anger sighed, sidling alongside Joy, "Cause it looks like we got a more pressing issue right now."

For Riley had started properly waking up. And no amount of preparation could stop the reaction;

"MOM!!!"


	5. Chapter 5

"So you see, it's perfectly normal, honey!"

Riley Anderson was nodding along with her mother's words, however not many of them were sinking in. Her expression glazed over, anyone could tell she was still very much in shock.

"Whuh? What the?!" A perplexed Anger hammered at the controls, trying to figure out why her mom's speech was barely audible, forget cohesive to them. Every word came through as though the speaker was using a broken megaphone. While underwater.

"Ugh, the one time we need Fear, to do all this technical sh...tuff, an' he's takin' a nap!" Anger fumed, entertaining the idea of simply smashing his head into the control panel. After all, it might work? It would help his stress levels too.

"Nooo, no no no, don't do anything rash, okay Anger?" Joy eased the red emotion's frustration, "I'm pretty sure we've just got a blockage somewhere, so we'll have to flush it out. In the meantime, we'll need more reacting. Just nodding will make Mom suspicious eventually, got it guys?"

Sadness nodded in sync with the dial she was caressing on the dashboard, to make Riley do the same.

"Out of the way, Sadness." Disgust simply barged in, shunting Sadness out of the way and pressing a few buttons.

"Eww!" Riley gasped, surprising her mother with the outburst.

"Aww c'mon, boys aren't _that_ creepy!" She laughed, ruffling her daughter's hair, "I'm just saying, there'll be a time when you meet a nice boy, and-"

"Whoa! Watch the reactions there Disgust!" Anger called from across the room, using his brute strength to coerce a rusty old handle into turning at Joy's instruction, "we don't wanna react too strong. Might give the wrong impression!"

"Who cares what Mom's talking about?" Disgust retorted, stabbing at various buttons, "everything's gross right now, so it won't make a difference!"

"Still! Just BE, CAREful!" Anger gasped, finally wrenching the rusted wheel into position, and practically collapsing from the release of pressure, "there ya... go, Joy."

"Great work, Anger!" Joy gave him a friendly squeeze, before returning to the console, "Okay headrush! Time to say bye bye!"

Multiple popping sounds, like dissolving foam, burst around headquarters as Mom's voice became slowly clearer, followed by a-

"Ohhh-WHOA!" Riley gasped, as a stream of blood slipped from her nose, "Nuah! Blub nose!"

"Don't panic sweetie, these things happen!" Mom cried, pulling a tissue from nowhere and mopping up the crimson escapee, "theeere we go! Just pinch your nose, and lean forwards! It'll stop in a moment!"

"Is... _that_ normal?" Riley uttered, her voice muffled by the tissue and blocked nose, "Y'know... Erry monf?"

"Nooo, not at all honey." Her mother reassured her confused daughter, "that was just your body getting a little... excited, is all!"

"W-well, I kinda wanna keep my blood..." Riley muttered, wiping the last of it away from her nose, "...but why do only girls go through this, Mom?"

"Because girls are secretly the stronger ones!" Her Mom whispered into her ear, provoking a giggle from Riley, "all this suffering we girls go through every month? It just reminds us of the blood, sweat and tears it took to make us all so special."

"Aww Mom, ya big softie!" Joy chuckled airily from headquarters, and Riley followed suit.

"But yeah, lemme tell ya. Your Dad and I, we were so relieved when you came into the room screaming this morning." Mom sighed with said relief, confusing Riley further.

"...why?" The young girl asked, wondering exactly why her Mom would be 'relieved' that she'd bled all over those nice clean bedsheets.

"Well, you just... took longer than we expected, that's all!" Said Mom, picking her words carefully so that she didn't unnerve her daughter further, "But that's water under the bridge now! You're finally growing up, Riley!"

"Errm..." Riley chewed her lip, unsure what to ask next. "There's... nothing special involved with this, is there? Like, no weird party or anything?"

"Nope!" Came Mom's trite, immediate answer, "Just make sure to mark it down on your calender, and we can be prepared next month!"

"Oh. Okay." Riley mumbled, "Can I... go now?"

"Unless you've got any more questions?" Her mother smiled, obviously the beacon of knowledge. Her father was conveniently 'missing' for this conversation.

"Umm..." Riley wrung her hands, clearly nervous about something.

"Looks like you can't say just yet." Her Mom continued to smile, "Are your bedclothes in the laundry?"

"Y-yeah."

"That's great sweetie. I'll send you some more up soon."

"O...okay."

"And remember, your Mom's always here if you have questions. Something new and scary pop up? Tell Mom! Got it?"

"...okay."

"You can go run off and play now if you want, Riley. Hot dogs for dinner!"

"Th-thanks." Riley let out the smallest of smiles, before disappearing behind a door and upstairs to her room.

"...I don't get it. Why isn't she asking anything?" Sadness mumbled at the backlog of unasked questions on the prompter.

"Probably embarrassment, Sadness," Joy explained, "You'd be the same if weird things were happening to you, wouldn't you?"

 

"I guess...?" Sadness gave a light shrug.

"ANYway, getting back to the matter hand!" Joy steered attention back to Riley, "We'll ask Mom in our own time, don't worry. I'm sure it won't take too - oh, okay then! We're askin' the internet!"

"Well, it's embarrassing, isn't it?" Disgust tapped at the controls with a strict nonchalance, "So if it's gonna embarrass us, we ask something that won't judge. Simple!"

"Ohh, I'm sure Mom wouldn't judge us..." Joy laughed off the minor concern, "After all, we're her little fl-"

But Joy's expression dropped, along with her jawline, as four pairs of eyes watched the words that were slowly getting typed across the screen.

"abata...jibrag...uh?" The yellow emotion spat out a garbled mess of words, coherent to no-one.

"Oh great, Joy's malfunctioned. Now what?" Anger growled in annoyance, waving a hand in front of Joy's unresponsive gaze.

"Well whaddya expect!?" Disgust glared at him, still livid over his previous remark, "To have her go and ask something like _that_?!"

Anger returned the glare with equal ferocity.

"But... why would she ask that?" Sadness mumbled, her eyes large and gleaming behind her glasses, "Sh-sh-shouldn't-"

" _I_ can answer that!"


	6. Chapter 6

Four emotions looked around, confused, as this newcomer strutted towards them. With the swagger of a steroidal peacock, this leggy pink emotion had a self confident smirk, the type that _knew_ they could get what they wanted with the right look.

High heeled boots clicked across the floor of headquarters, with fishnet tights across her legs, while a short, pleated tartan skirt scarcely covered what it needed to. A button up shirt exposed midriff, and not nearly enough buttons were actually buttoned up, while fingerless leather gloves rode all the way up to her elbows.

"Alright, who let that in?" Disgust huffed at the new 'addition'.

"...sounds like I'm not welcome." The pink emotion cocked her head to one side, running a hand through her short red hair, "want me to leave, so you can take care of these difficult years by _yourself_?"

"Yes." Anger responded instantly, advancing forwards, however quick moment from Joy had him stalled.

"Whooaa, whoa whoa!" Joy tried to calm him down, "we need her, Anger!" She hissed, "she's obviously our temp!"

"...And? I don't trust her." He growled quietly, and retired to the simple, disapproving stare.

"...hey there!" Joy rushed up to introduce herself, "I'm Joy! _Usually_ the one in charge here! You're here to help Riley, right? What's your name, stranger?"

"Yes, I _am_ here to help uhh, Riley was it?" the pink emotion drawled, "as for a name... y'all can call me Libby."

"Libby? Ooh, is that short for something?" Joy attempted small talk, "s-so, umm... what exactly will you be helping with?"

"Ohh, just the next few years." She answered vaguely, seeming more interested in her fingernails than the conversation, "Y'know, a lot's gonna change, so I'm just gonna be teaching y'all the rules."

"Rules?"

Disgust wasn't impressed. "Pubberty has rules?"

"Yup!" Libby smirked, "What's up? Don't like rules?"

"There's a few things I don't like right now!"

"Ohh, like social construct?"

"Yeah, and your stupid rules!"

"But rules are important!"

"Doesn't make 'em fun!"

"Ohh, I see. They're just too _complex_ for ya."

"Are not! They're just dumb!"

"Aww, look at them..." Joy held back a giggle.

"They're like... twins." Anger raised an eyebrow.

"She's nothing like me!" Both yelled at once, making identical glares at Anger.

"I hate you." Disgust huffed at Libby.

"I _like_ her!" Libby grinned back, provoking a scowl from Disgust. Clicking her heels across the floor of headquarters, she approached the quiet blue emotion.

"So what's the problem, small fry?"

"W-well, we're wondering why Riley would ask the computer _that_." Sadness pointed at Riley's computer screen, "and not just ask her par-"

"Not _her..._ " Libido smirked, folding her arms, "I mean, what's up with you? Why the long face?"

"Umm... I'm Sadness." She offered a small smile, as well as a hand to shake.

"Ohh, so you can't help the long face. I see." Libby 'understood'. "So where's the other one? There's supposed to be five of you, right?"

"Oh, Fear's s-sleeping." Sadness answered, "he was on Dream Duty last night, and-"

"Ohh, I see! Mind if I go wake him? We've got a big situation coming up!"

"Well, err..." Sadness was hesitant, and looked to the others for support.

"Well, it's _your_ room Sadness. You can wake him up whenever you wanna." Anger responded, after noticing that Disgust wasn't caring enough to pay attention, and Joy was busy with some controls on the dashboard.

"...okay." Sadness mumbled, and toddled off towards her room, with Libby practically trotting at her heels.

"So why's he in _your_ room?" She beamed a manic smile at the little blue emotion, "Is there uh, _'something happening'_ between ya both?"

"Well, I umm-" Sadness began her reply, before suddenly realising the full implications of the question, and flushing a bright purple, "Ohhh~!"

Burying her face in her hands, a positively mauve Sadness attempted to explain, "N-n-no! We just had a p-problem this m-morning, a-a-and I helped! B-but then he fell asleep, a-and that's all!!"

"...oh. Pity." She let off the tiniest of huffs, "was hopin' for SOME kinda romance here."

"...why?" Sadness couldn't help but ask.

"Makes m'job easier," she once again answered vaguely, as the door to Sadness' room was opened, and both entered.

_meanwhile..._

"Aww, c'mon Riley, don't do this to me honey..." Joy muttered, tapping at various buttons on the dashboard and getting nowhere.

"Why don'cha just let her ask the question?" Anger furrowed his eyebrows in mild bemusement.

"Because that's a question for _Mom_ to answer, not a computer," Joy replied, running out of ideas quickly. "There's gotta be some way we can override this! Any ideas, guys?!"

"Nope."

"Not a."

"...least you're honest." She clutched at straws. "Ahhh, it looks like we might have to wait for Libby to get back. She'll know what to do, right?"

"Sure?"

"Ugh. Probably."

"Great effort guys! Lovin' the feedback." Joy forced herself to chuckle. "Ohh, just hang in there Riley! We'll fix this..."

All the while, the cursor on Riley's computer screen kept blinking back at her;

'why dont i like boys'

* * *

 

_Back in Sadness' room..._

"Hello-ooooohhhh~" Libby dragged out her 'greeting' as long as she could, all the while poking a comatose Fear, "wake up, sleepyhead..."

"Umm, y-you probably shouldn't poke him..." Sadness murmured, picking up the plushies that Libby had carelessly bounced off the bed, "Fear's... volatile unless you wake him up just right."

"Oh?" She smiled deviously at the blue emotion, "wanna show me how, teach?"

"Ermm..." Sadness toddled over to the bed, dunking her plushies back onto it, "I... I can do that."

Taking in a deep breath, she readied her voice, and 'shouted', "Volcano!"

...Fear remained asleep.

"Hmm..." Sadness queried, "m-maybe something scarier. Peanut butter avalanche!"

"Ohh, so you just try to scare him awake?" Libby mused, one finger against her pouting lips, "seems a little... counter productive."

"I-it's the lesser of the evils." Sadness forced a smile. "please don't make me use the clowns, Fear..."

Cupping her hands in front of her mouth, she raised her voice further still, "Stranger-"

"-danger?!" Fear gasped, bolting awake and upright.

"Hey, stretch!" Libby introduced herself, "how are-"

"STRANGER DANGER!" Fear shrieked, vaulting from the bed and cowering behind Sadness, "S-S-Sadness?! Who's THAT?!"

"This is Libby." She answered simply, "she's our temp. Wanna... say hello?"

"W-why was she that CLOSE to me while I was SLEEPING?" Fear cried, shaking vigorously.

"Wait, _this_ is the easy way?" Libby narrowed her eyes, looking unimpressed.

"I-it is normally," said Sadness, "but there actually _was_ stranger danger, so he kinda... freaked out."

"No jokes." Libby muttered, kneeling down behind Sadness and addressing the still hysterical Fear, "hey there... I'm Libby. Y'all okay?"

"J-just a bit rattled right now..." Fear quivered, finally removing his hands from his face, "after all, I woke up on a strange bed in a strange room with a strange EMOTION staring at me!"

"Ohh, so you don't sleep here normally?"

"...What? Well, of course not. This is Sadness' room."

"Aww. You guys really aren't good with hints, are ya?" She groaned, "ahh well. Y'about done? Cause I've got news for all of ya."

"News? W-what kinda news?"

Fear scrambled to his feet, looking concerned, "I-is it concerning Riley? If so, I-I-"

"Relaaaax, it's not bad news." Libby smirked, giving Fear no relief, "Just some important stuff that y'all need to learn sooner rather than later."

"Well, if it's important..." Fear dusted himself off, "Lead the way! I hope we can learn a lot from you!"

"Does it... involve reading?" Sadness chimed in, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

Just a little.

"Well well now, I didn't expect y'all to be willin'," Libby seemed pleasantly surprised, "normally when I mention teachin', you guys get all... antsy."

"Oh, you'll get that from Anger, don't worry." Fear piped up, as the three made their way back to headquarters, "Probably Disgust too." As she had expected, nothing had changed.

"Hey there, guys!" Libby waved energetically, "got a problem?"

"Other than you?" Disgust scowled, "...We can't get Riley to do anything."

"'We', she says..." Anger grunted, punching a complex looking password into the keypad, "tell me, Disgust; what're _you_ doing right now?"

"Ohh, she's just... scouting for results, that's all!" A stressed-but-still-somehow-chipper Joy wiped her brow, twisting a few dials to coordinate with Anger's 'organised' button pushing, "C-cause we're too busy trying to fix Riley, see? If something happens, we won't notice!"

"Yeah, and that's _super_ important." Disgust pouted, provoking a growl from Anger, "so you just stick to your button pushing, little man."

"Urgggh...!" Anger erupted, his buttons more than just pushed, "Listen, you. One of these days, you're gonna end up impaled on somethin'. And WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I'll gladly take the-"

"Whoa, whoa whoa...!" Joy interjected, holding Anger back by the shoulders, "cool your jets, Anger. It's alright...!"

"Really, Joy? Is it now?!" Anger fumed, "Riley's broken, _she's_ here, and we've no idea what the crap's goin' on!"

"...not the friendliest, is he?" Libby murmured to Fear, who quivered in agreement.

"Oh, and we got _her_ too." Anger vented, his flames finally simmering down. Taking in a deep breath, he regained his composure, "...so whatcha got for us, temp lady?"

"...w-wow, I _like_ the fire that burns within you!" She stammered, recovering quickly and returning back to her normal self.

"...Keeps us warm in the winter." Disgust shrugged, taunting out another growl from the red emotion.

"And what do I have for ya, ya ask?" Libby smiled, pulling gently on the tie around his neck and receiving a confused expression from everyone, "well, how does a Quirk Upgrade sound?"

"Lady, I don't need no upgrades." Anger muttered, tugging his tie back away from her grasp, "and my 'Quirks' are just fine, so you just tell us how to fix Riley!"

"and what if I can... _show you_." Libby smirked. Straightening the collar of Anger's shirt, she drew herself up to her full height, puffing her chest out in front of the red emotion. However, her 'behaviour' was completely lost in everyone's concern over Riley. Still frozen in front of her computer screen, it had been a couple of minutes at least since her emotions had successfully taken control of anything.

"Ha-have you tried re-calibrating her limbs?" Fear scratched his head, poking at the screens, "it could be like some kinda sleep paralysis, except we're awake - oh no! She's paralysed! We're gonna be useless, and-"

"Fear, calm down!" Joy shook the purple emotion, knocking his senses back into him, "Riley is not paralysed! It's not brain freeze, and she's not tongue tied either! We just... don't know what's wrong."

"Yeah, and that's a problem!" Fear spluttered, his arms flailing seemingly of their own accord.

"Ugh, kids..." Libby muttered to herself, rolling her eyes in exasperation, "Have ya tried letting her do what she wants?!"

"But why would she wanna ask that?" Sadness glanced up at the vision screen, where her search engine continued to blink patiently at her.

"We even tried influencing her with different questions, but that wasn't working either." Joy shrugged, gesturing to the discarded pile of broken light bulbs behind her.

"Well, there's a reason alrigh'!" Libby folded her arms, "maybe you should just give it the go ahead?"

"Well..." Fear muttered, eyeing up what had to be the only button they hadn't pressed, "you _are_ the teacher..."

"B-but think of what could happen if we let her!" Joy interjected once again, "we should really ask Mom and Dad, and-"

"How d'ya plan on that, Joy?" Anger grunted, "she's frozen 'til we ask this!"

"But there's gotta be another way?" Joy tried to summon up some support from the other emotions. No such luck.

"We've _tried_ all the alternatives, Joy," Fear said, closing his eyes. "Hope this works..."

Several faces were uneasy as Fear's hand banged down on the big green button, giving Riley the go-ahead to continue with her search.

And after what felt like an eternity of waiting for the young girl, her mouse button finally clicked down on the 'search' option. Her computer made some noise, and a few flashes...

"Well, she's movin' again. That's one problem solved." Anger shrugged, squinting at the results of her search.

"Well yeah, that's a positive at least..." Said a concerned Joy, "but look at all this information that's just been thrown at us! So many terms, and it's all so cold and sterile, not to mention confusing! Is anyone else confused?!"

"Me."

"Yep."

"A little..."

"Ditto."

"Eheh, that's, uh... motion carried." Fear chuckled awkwardly.

"See? Wasn't so hard, was it?" Libby smirked, causing three confused and two annoyed faces to stare back at her.

"Whaddya mean 'wasn't so hard'?" Anger's knuckles tightened, "goin' against everything we know? What part of that seemed easy to you?"

"The part where she started moving again." Libby shot his argument down instantly.

"Well yeah, but now we're right back to where we started," Fear sighed, "we've no answers, meaning we'll just have to ask Mom, like the original plan."

"Yeah! And this search we've made is listing all these horrible sounding names!" Joy chipped in, "Riley's our girl! I don't wanna see her labelled as a - a 'dyke'! Or-or a 'pan...sexual'?! Or even a les-"

"-bian?" Libby finished her sentence for her. "Well that's all well and good. But have any of y'all considered that 'your girl' might want one of these 'labels'? An identity, perhaps?"

"But we _are_ Riley!" Fear cried, his confusion mounting, "what we want is what she wants... isn't it?"

"Based on the last few minutes..." Libby examined her fingernails, "I'd say she has a few thoughts of her own, wouldn't you?"

"Wait... so you're sayin' we can't control her any more?" Anger asked, his low, gravelly tone a thinly veiled facade, over the very real threat of what just might be happening.

"I'm sayin' she can think for herself." The pink emotion deadpanned, in a manner so blunt that even Disgust was taken aback by it, "she's not just a kid any more. You'll need to step up your game if ya wanna keep her happy. Got it?"

"O-of course!" Joy answered for everyone, "we'd do anything for Riley! Right guys?!"

"...yes?"

"Sure."

"O-okay..."

"Whatever."

"Well... they didn't disagree." Joy shook her head fondly, "Hit us up, Libby! Show us whatcha got!"

"Well, alright..." Lubby stretched her long, skinny frame, "that is what I'm here for, after all."

Tugging on Anger's shirt once again, she muttered, "how're your Quirks, big guy? Still don't need that upgrade?"

Anger groaned, "well... If it's for Riley... I guess it'll be okay..."


	7. Chapter 7

"Alright, great choice guys!" Libby beamed at them all, resulting in reactions that varied from confused to irritated. "Okay, first things first," the pink emotion continued, pulling what seemed to be a stack of books from literally nowhere, "we'll have to get some light-"

"Reading?" An instantly horrified Anger growled, "you mean we gotta read **manuals**?! That's it! I take it all back! I'm outta here!"

"Hey wait, Anger! No no no! Waiit!" Joy cries, dashing after the red emotion and attempting to stop him from stomping away.

"Nuh-uh, Joy, not doin' it." Anger grunted, his arm tugged back at almost a horizontal angle, "she shoulda WARNED US that there'd be manuals! I DIDN'T AGREE to manuals!"

"Heyyy, you read Dream News every morning, right?" Joy began her attempts to persuade him, "why's this manual so different?"

"Cause Dream News has funny pages, and interesting factoids, and crosswords!" Anger huffed, still attempting to tug his arm away from Joy's grip, "that doorstop over there would only be good for killing things!"

"Well how do you know it hasn't got funny pages, Anger?" Fear chipped in with his trademark reasoning, "if you haven't read it?"

"You kiddin' me Fear?" Anger glared at him, "guys like us DON'T READ MANUALS! We do things following our gut, and deal with new stuff in our own ways! If we screw up, that's how we learn!"

"Even with important things? Like Riley?"

Anger's neck cricked from straining it further, only to see Sadness staring at him with her enormous eyes.

"I can... help you with reading it, if you want?"

"Urrgggh..." Anger growled again, causing Sadness to back up a few steps, "that's... really sweet of you, Sadness. But you gotta understand, it's the principle here, a-and-"

"And you just don't wanna read." Fear deadpanned, folding his arms, "Will anything persuade you?"

"Nnnope!" Anger huffed, finally regaining the use of his arm, which he promptly folded.

Fear sighed. "Disgust? Anything to say on this?"

Disgust turned, flicked her hair, and muttered, "I'm with Anger."

The entire crowd gasped at Disgust, agreeing with Anger of all emotions. "Why do we have to read about this stuff? Why can't we just try it out, and see what happens?"

Anger's expression softened almost immediately, perhaps from surprise factor alone. Did Disgust just agree with him?

"Because that could harm Riley!" Fear cried, "you wouldn't wanna risk that over a little bit of reading, would you?"

"More than a 'little' if you ask me." Disgust glared at the thick tomes in Libby's arms.

"Ahh, well that's a shame." The pink emotion drawled, shelving the books, "it would've really helped Riley out. And you two woulda had the most important jobs."

"M-m-most important?!" Disgust stammered. She was already wavering, "W-what would make them the mos-most important?!"

"Ahh, I can't tell you that." Libby winked, glancing over to the stack of books on the shelf, "you'll have to read that big ol' doorstop over there to find out."

Based on the sole ideal of being 'more important' than the others, Disgust muttered, "...I'm in."

"Ohh, you'll be perfect for the job..." Libby stoked her ego further. Turning to Anger, she said, "what about you, big guy? Still don't wanna read?"

"Nuh-uh!" Anger grunted, turning his head the other way, "ya can't persuade me with some dumb bluff!"

"Ahh, but who said I was bluffing?"

"Bluffing or not, I ain't buyin' it! The only reason Disgust did is 'cause you appealed to her ego! She's always been jealous of the rest of us!"

Anger ignored the death stare from Disgust, and focused his attention on Libby.

"Ahh, jealousy. Interesting word choice." She smirked, checking her fingernails, "well, how 'bout this? What if it read like a newspaper? Complete with funny pages and crosswords?"

"Well..." Anger was hesitant. _She sure is persuasive_ , he muttered internally.

"C'mon Anger, she's cutting you a great deal here!"

Anger was snapped out of his contemplation, only to find the other three emotions surrounding him.

"It'll be just like the morning tun where you read Dream News." Fear continued, pleading with arm gestures more than words.

"And it'll help Riley..." Sadness chipped in, "that's a good thing, right?"

"Plus, you'll get a really important new job!" Joy added, for persuasion's sake alone, "though not more important than me~" the yellow emotion muttered to herself.

"Urg, dammit guys! You don't make it easy, do ya?" Anger sighed, dragging his shovel-like hand across his face. Narrowing his eyes at Libby, he muttered, "alright lady, you got a deal. Just don't pull nothin', okay?"

"Oh, I don't plan to, red." Came Libby's response. Books already in hand, she drew herself up to her full height, "alright guys, let's get it started!"

Anger was the first in line, albeit not out of choice.

" _How_ much do you want this?" She asked, brandishing the newspaper at him.

"Not... really?" Anger's eye twitched, his forced honesty getting the better of him.

" _How_ much do you want this?!" Libby reiterated, her voice even higher than before.

"...I don't, alright?" Anger sighed, knowing all too well that he was disappointing the others. No matter how important it was, he couldn't just pretend that he wanted it.

" _HOW_ much do you want me to stop asking?!" Libby took a different approach, brandishing the newspaper one more time.

"A LOT!" Anger grinned, snatching the paper from her.

"Good choice!" Libby cried, happy in her eventual success, "now, your passion bubbles very close to the surface, wouldn't y'all agree?"

Nods and murmurs of agreement rippled through the small crowd; Anger included.

"Oh, you agree? That's good!" Libby smiled, "an' this is why I gave you a _newspaper_ on Passion, Red. It's complete with funny pages and crosswords too, so ya won't get bored!"

"But... why passion? I just get mad, I don't get excited about things."

"Gettin' mad means ya care, hon." Libby explained, "and people who care are passionate about things, wouldn't ya say?"

"Well, yeah, but wouldn't Joy be-"

"So we need a powerful emotion to take on this big upgrade. Don'ch'agree, Red?"

"Well I... I guess so?" Anger shrugged in a half-hearted compliance, flicking through the pages, "...oh! Awesome! They've got _White Cell and Haemoglobin_ in here! I love this comic!"

Anger walked away with his newspaper, chuckling merrily, and next in line was Disgust.

"Right, I said I had an important job for you, too." Libby smirked, handing her a book the width of a short novel, "and I do. Luckily for you though, you're pretty much good for the job already."

"Envy?" Disgust wrinkled her nose up at the title, "why's this so important?"

"Your girl's growin' up now!" Libby explained, reaching to pat Disgust on the shoulder, and watching the green emotion instinctively swerve out of the way, "She's gon' want things she can't have. Trust me, you'll be good at this."

"Just what does she think I am...?" Disgust muttered to herself, glaring at the book and then Libby. "This isn't gonna take ages to read, is it?"

"Nooo, not at all." Libby chuckled, "It's got an extra large print, and some nice pictures too. I know you're not a fan of reading too much..."

"Ugh. Makes it a bit better I suppose..." Disgust sighed, cracked her book open to a random page, and wandered off.

Next up was Fear.

"What I've got for you, Stretch..." Libby said, heaving the largest of all the books from her pile, "ain't so much an upgrade, more just some tweakin'. How many things is Riley scared of?"

"Umm, that depends on the current situation, I suppose?"

"Right. Could you get me a list? I want some rough idea."

"S-sure, I can do that." Fear stammered, clutching the heavy book in his arms, "uhh, what's the book for?"

"you're the uh, 'technical' type, right?" Libby chose her word carefully, "your girl's gonna be goin' through a lotta stuff. That book explains it all, in the most complicated and nerdy way imaginable. Sound good, sugar?"

"Oh wow, this _will_ come in handy." A happy Fear gasped, wrenching the book along, "I-I'll get that list for you!"

"I'll be waitin'!" Libby smiled, as Sadness toddled up to her. "Hey there little blue. I got a great job for ya."

Grabbing another thick book - not as horrendous as Fear's, but still quite an epic read - Libby handed the tome over to Sadness.

"...Angst?" Sadness mumbled, reading the cover, "I-I don't-"

"It's alrigh', don't worry." Libby reassured her, "Your girl's growin' up, and she's gonna be havin' a lotta feelings she can't quite explain. That'll be where you come in. Angst is real complex, and tricky to master, but I reckon you can do it, lil' blue!"

"...really?" Sadness held the book to her chest, eyes shining.

"Oh, fer sure!" Libby smiled, "oh, and also, the print's like extra small, so you can fit more words in. I know ya like readin'."

"Ooh..." Sadness murmured, a small smile touching at her face as she walked off, book held tightly in her arms.

And last but not least, Joy.

"Ohh, what do I get?!" She asked, predictably overexcited, "hmm, what could top happiness...?"

"Well..." Libby muttered, handing Joy a single sheet of paper, "I'm... actually gonna need you take a back seat for a while. If ya don't mind?"

"...oh. Well I can do that, I suppose." Joy said, crestfallen.  _So You're a Teenager Now_ fluttered down to the floor. Much like her spirits.

"Alright everyone!" Libby cried, dodging past a disappointed Joy and addressing the other four emotions, "let's get this show on the road!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright Riley, time to get going!"

Riley's ears pricked up at the sound of her mother's voice, "...go? Go where?"

"Go out!" Her mother called back, "we need to buy you some things!"

"Err... okay." A confused Riley mumbled, folding down the lid on her laptop sliding out of the computer chair.

Clumsily stomping down the stairs, she quickly met up with her mother once again.

"W-what kinda things?" She asked, eyeing her mother.

"Ohh, just some basic necessities." Her mother smiled, grabbing the car keys.

"So... why have I gotta go?"

Riley's confusion was building.

"Because they're necessities for _you_ , silly monkey!" Her mother ruffled her hair, "Now, let's get going before your dad gets curious."

"He isn't coming too?" Riley raised an eyebrow.

"Nope! Means you and I can have some girl time!" Her mom laughed, "besides, he's got sports to distract him. We're safe."

"Ookayyy..." Riley shrugged, stepping into her trainers and wandering after her mom, "Bye, dad!"

The reply came slowly.

"...hunh?! O-oh! Bye monkey! Be a good girl for your mom!"

"Ooh! Ooh-hooh!" Riley made her monkey impression at her dad, before walking out the front door after her mother.

Doors slammed shut, seatbelts were buckled, the engine was kicked into life, and Riley's expedition into town had begun.

"...does that mean hot dogs are in town?" Riley asked, remembering the promise of hot dogs for dinner.

"Maybe. If you're a good girl." Her mom winked, and made a right turn onto the main road, where the tall spires of the city loomed. Disappearing down the long road, Riley watched the scenery pass by her out the window. Things were much busier inside the young girl's head, however.

* * *

 

"Alright, how're y'all doin'?"

A pink emotion folded her arms, and surveyed the situation;

Fear was scratching his head, his eyes lidded as he pored over the contents of his overlarge 'book'. Disgust was half-heartedly skimming through the pages of hers, making her point clear. Anger was merely chuckling at the funny pages, while Sadness had found herself a corner and a plush chicken, and was poring over the pages with gusto.

Lastly, Joy. With nothing to do, the yellow emotion was slumped against a chair, staring at the screen and 'monitoring' Riley, due to Libby's strict instruction to leave her on autopilot.

"So." Libby asked, prying Anger's gaze from his newspaper, "what's the news? Learnin' anything?"

"BAHAH! Learning!" Anger roared, returning to his paper, "how cute! She thinks the funny pages are educational!"

"Alrigh' Red, tell me what's in the funny pages, then?"

"Oho, this one's a classic!" Anger chuckled, "Y'see, White Cell took a nap, so Haemoglobin decided to sneak into his room and douse him with some kinda liquid! Then when White Cell woke up, he was all covered in hair! BaHAHAAAH!"

Practically falling over from his laughter, "a-and look at this one! White Cell got his revenge, and gave Haemoglobin boo... Oh."

"Yup! You're doin' great!" Libby smirked, flouncing past a dumbfounded Anger.

"...well played." The red emotion grunted.

"What about you, Stretch?"

"Oh! Uh well, umm..." Fear stammered, having barely dented the enormous book, "I'm... making progress, I suppose."

"Understanding everything?"

"More or less, sure." Fear scratched his head, "but one thing I'm having trouble with, right here..."

Tracing his finger across a line of the minute print, he reiterated, "I just cant understand _why_ some of these things happen at this time in her life. I mean, craving chocolate, sure, but random mood swings? And going to the restroom in packs?! What's that all about?!"

"Ya see, that's more of a safety thing." Libby placed a gentle arm on his shoulder, "Y'know how fish get together in schools, so that they don't get eaten? Well girls use the same logic! While o'course they ain't gon' get eaten by no shark, they ain't gon' get attacked neither, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"I...I uhh, think so," Fear frowned at her.

"Attaboy," she winked. Leaving Disgust to her own devices, Libby sidled up alongside Sadness, "Heyyy, squirt! Doin' okay?"

"Hmm?" The little blue emotion mumbled, glancing up from her doorstop, "O-oh! Yeah, I... guess. Lots and lots of reading to do."

"That's good..." Libby smirked, patting her on the shoulder, "understandin' everything?"

"Almost..." Sadness adjusted her glasses, squinting at one particular phrase, "hey, what's a 'mel...an...cholic sensory overload'?"

"Oh, right!" Libby knelt down beside her, twirling the fingers of one hand in search of a good answer, "that's where nobody _gets_ you, and you just wanna be alone in a dark room for a while. Ya get me?"

"I... guess so?" Sadness looked confused, "S-so it's like being sad, but because no one understands you?"

"Exactly!" Libby praised her, "an' we'll get plenty of practice in, don' worry!"

"I'll... try my best!" Sadness piped up, a rare show of confidence creeping into her voice.

And then there was Joy.

"Hey there, Yellow." Libby asked, "enjoyin' the free time?"

"Not really..." Joy muttered, resting her head against the control panel. Gulping down a huge yawn as it threatened, she said, "it's a little boring, just sitting here and watching, you know?"

"Ohh, I know..." Libby said, with a 'comforting' hand on Joy's back, "but juuust hang in there, okay? Enjoy the free time!"

"But I don't like free time..." Joy groaned, lazily prodding at a button to check on Riley's vitals. They also seemed to show nothing of interest - just a heightened body temperature - but nothing particularly excit-

"Hunh? What's that?" The yellow emotion grunted, her ears pricking up at a sound that had just entered Riley's.

A soft, lyrical, strumming sort of sound.

"Sounds like... music?" Joy queried, pushing a few buttons and regaining access to Riley's vision.

"Your girl likes music, huh?" Libby asked, both eyebrows raised in a combination of intrigue and suspicion.

"Ohh, Riley loves music!" Joy cried, sounding joyful for the first time in ages, "c-can I do something here? Please?"

"Well, I don't think ya need to." Libby smirked, nodding to the 'screen', which clearly showed Riley's frenetic attempts to source the music.

"Where's that guitar playing coming from?" The young teen asked to no one in particular, walking 'with' her mom down the crowded street.

The timely notes, hitting a beat with Riley's thumping heart, had her darting about in her attempts to find it. It just sounded so familiar!

And then came a voice;

"And if it expires, rain hell from above~" she sang, plucking acoustic chords along with her lyrics. A flourish of auburn hair was flung back, and Riley finally spotted her musician!

"In the midnight hour~" Jess purred into her microphone, "she cried more, more, more~"

"Riley!" Her mother cried, as the young girl darted away from her, weaving through the crowds.

"With a rebel ye~ll, she cried - Riley?!"

With a snort of surprise, Jess backed away from her microphone and lowered her guitar, "oh gosh, it's you! How long have you been standing there?!"

"Just a couple moments." The younger girl shared a bashful smile, "I um... you're really good at guitar...ing."

"Pff, nah, this is nothing." Jess shrugged off her compliment, "I'm nothing special. You want special, go find Amber. She's usually over by the big food store."

"Amber's here too?" Riley asked, glancing over her shoulder in spite of the information Jess just fed her, "wh-why aren't you playing together? Wouldn't that get you more money?"

"You'd think so, huh?" Jess smirked, twisting one of the knobs on her guitar, "but we've figured it out, and it turns out that busking is much more profitable when you're alone. Bassist is around here somewhere too. Probably where there's girls to scare off."

"Ohh, okay!" Riley smiled, not really knowing what else to say.

"So anyways, what brings you into town?" Jess saved the conversation, "more hockey stuff?"

"A-actually no..." Riley mumbled out a response and glanced away. That was definitely something that didn't need broadcasting.

"I uhh, kinda..."

"She needs lady things." Another voice interjected, causing the young blonde to jump, "yawha?!"

Spinning around, she gasped, "MOM!"

"Ohh, righhht..." Jess nodded, instantly understanding Riley's mom's 'woman code', "that's a thing now, huh?"

"E-heh, yeah..." Riley tittered, looking down at the ground.

"So we're going to go get those now." Her mom continued, squeezing the girl's shoulder to get her attention, "it was lovely seeing you again... Jess, was it?"

"A-and you too, Mrs...?"

"Anderson."

"Ohh... cool last name!"

"C'mon runaway, let's get those things you need." Riley's mom continued, giving her daughter another shake.

"Well, I'll seeya another time, okay Riley?" Jess smiled, putting her acoustic down;

"But not before you get one of these!"

"Whoa!" Riley gasped, her heart lurching as Jess pulled her in close!


	9. Chapter 9

Blood pressure skyrocketing, Riley's heart was thumping far more heavily than it had ever done before. Blood pounding in her ears, vision going blurry, all the young girl could see or feel was... sparkles.

"Wh-what the hell's going on?!" Fear cried, abandoning his new manual for the moment and rushing over to the control panel next to an equally oblivious Joy, "why's her heart beating so fast? This isn't one of those heart attacks, is it?!"

"I'm... not sure, Fear!" Joy tried her best to reassure him, "Last thing we knew, that other girl offered Riley something, right?"

"Well yeah, but _what_?" Fear muttered, unable to fine tune _any_ of Riley's senses and answer that question. Her hearing was drowned out, her vision was essentially white noise right now, and there wasn't enough feedback from the smell, taste or feel to clear up the confusion. All he and Joy could tell was that it was very warm, and smelled... vaguely of vanilla. Maybe some cinnamon too.

"Damn, that smells good!" Anger inhaled through his lack of a nose, "almost like we've been attacked by some giant fruitcake or somethin'."

"Ugh..." Disgust moaned, slapping a palm to her forehead, "that's not a fruitcake, you morons. That's perfume. _Eau de Vanille 1801_ , if I'm not mistaken."

"...you've got an awesome nose." Anger grinned at her, whitewashing over the 'moron' thing.

"Don't I know it?" Disgust twitched said nose, if only to bask in the compliment a little longer.

"Okay, so she smells vanilla now!" Joy exclaimed, prodding various buttons, "that doesn't really answer the question, guys! Anger, wanna try and get her sight back online?"

"...sure, guess so?" The red emotion grunted, shaking what looked like an old TV aerial in an attempt to wade through the 'white noise'.

"Y'all haven't figured it out yet?" Came Libby's slow drawl.

Four emotions exchanged varying looks with each other, and then her.

"Well what is it, genius?" Disgust scowled.

"Your girl is-" Libby began, only to be interrupted by an unexpected source.

"-in love." Sadness finished, squeezing the chicken plushie in her arms tightly.

And Riley herself was being hugged just as tightly, by her auburn haired friend. Feet off the ground, her skinny frame was encompassed by the older girl's surprisingly strong arms. A faint blush tinged her cheeks, but the twelve year old was otherwise...

lost to the hug.

"T-that other girl, Jess. She's the one that smells of vanilla, I think?" Sadness continued to summarise, watching the 'signal' that was Riley's vision slowly improve, "A-and Riley's senses have gone funny because they don't matter right now... right?"

"Hmm..." Libby smirked, "not bad, lil' blue. Maybe this won't be so hard after all..."

Sadness shared a tiny smile with Libby, just as the fuzzy outline of a person was blurring into shape on the monitor, and the entirety of headquarters was suddenly bathed in a bright pink glow...

'Tink!' it fell a few inches, rolling down the tubes under the floor and taking its bright pink glow with it.

And six pairs of eyes followed it.

"Wh-what?!" Fear gasped, watching the new core memory install itself. Another metal beam grew itself from headquarters, quickly materialising into a new Personality Island!

Depicting two faceless people embracing each other in a swing chair, surrounded by what looked like a giant bush cut into the shape of a heart, the new island was a simple yet obvious insight.

"But what does that mean?!" Fear reiterated, this time actually catching Libby's attention.

"Means I'm doin' m'job right." Libby smirked back at him, "less than a day too. We're ahead of schedule, folks!"

"B-but-!" Joy hesitated, not even knowing where to begin with this, "but you're a temp! You don't get core memories... do you?"

"That one over there looks pretty real to me?" Libby shot her argument down instantly, pointing to the glimmering pink crystal ball.

"Yeah well..." Joy fished for another 'point', "It looks really tacky! I mean, how clichéd is that? Two people on a swing chair?"

"I think it looks kinda nice..." Fear shrugged.

"Yeah, it could be a lot worse." Disgust actually agreed with Sadness, "I mean, imagine what some slimy boy's one would look like?"

"They're less... graceful, put it that way." Libby advised her, prompting a frown from the green emotion, "no less clichéd though, I tell ya now."

"Oh, and just imagine if there was a sunset in the background!" Sadness piped up, surprising literally everyone with her sudden burst of enthusiasm, "A-and Riley would be the shorter one on the left, then on the right we'd have-"

"THAT'S another thing!" Joy interrupted, "thanks for that reminder, Sadness!"

"U-umm..." Sadness mumbled quietly, as Joy continued her tirade, "I... guess I'm okay with Riley liking girls as well, but falling in love with the first one she meets?! Little unrealistic, doncha think?!"

"Aren't you the one always fantasisin' about her getting swept off her feet by some prince charming?" Anger narrowed his eyes at Joy, "So what if this prince is a princess? She plays the guitar, and that's awesome, she's got pretty hair, and I dunno if you guys have noticed, but Riley's off her feet. So what's the problem?"

"The problem is..." Joy dug deeper, searching for _any_ means of justifying her actions, "t-the problem... is-"

"That your girl's happy, and you're not responsible for it." Libby remarked.

A silent tear rolled down Joy's cheek at this sudden revelation.

"No...!" The yellow emotion gasped quietly, "s-she can't be! I'm the one who makes her happy!"

"Err, serotonin levels are through the roof, Joy." Fear poked at one of the many gauges on the console, "Riley really is... happy."

"But I..." Joy mumbled, her voice hollow with disbelief. With headquarters noticeably warmer than usual, Riley's vision finally sharpened enough for her emotions to see what was going on.

The smallest of smiles tugging at her lips, Riley found her feet waggling playfully off the ground as she rest in Jess' arms. A pink blush dusting her cheeks, she glanced up at the older girl above her, who grinned right back. In spite of the spring heat pushing the temperatures way up into the eighties, this hug was an immeasurably comfortable, almost _different kind_ of warm.

"Not so tacky now, huh Joy?" Disgust pawed at the yellow emotion's dismay, before receiving a stern look from both Fear and Anger.

Meanwhile Joy just sat on the floor of headquarters, all dishevelled. _If Riley could be happy without her, was there any point in... her?_

"Don' worry Yellow, you're not gettin' made redundant here." Libby crouched down next to her, leather boots creaking like old rope. A gloved hand found its way around Joy's back, and next thing she knew, she was also victim of a hug.

"It'll be alright, don' worry. Sometimes, this sorta thang just... happens."


	10. Chapter 10

A shaky Riley was lowered back onto her feet. With the taller Jess simply smiling happily at her, she couldn't help but just accept the bubbly happiness that was swelling inside of her, like a shaken bottle of lemonade.

"Alright, what's goin' on _now_?" Anger grunted at the screen, "has everything always been this glowy?"

Appearing heavily illuminated, even shiny, in Riley's vision, it seemed as though the girl could focus on little else right n-

"Rileyyy!" C'mon, let's get going!"

All of a sudden, the warm, 'glowy' texture of Riley's vision melted away, and she turned to face her mom. Mouth dimpled to one side in mild annoyance, and a hand on the corresponding hip.

"Uh oh. Mom's mad." Anger deadpanned, "who's best at apologising h-"

"Mom's mad? MOM'S MAD!" Fear let out a surprisingly feminine screech, "we're gonna get grounded! We'll be stuck in our room, and it'll be boring, and-"

"Calm _down_ , Fear!" Disgust's palm knocked his face sideways, sending the purple emotion crashing to the floor, "we're working on an apology, okay?!"

"S-sorry, mom..." Riley mumbled, as Sadness manned the controls, "I-I didn't mean to take a long time, i-it was just that-"

"It was my fault, ma'am." Jess quickly owned up, "I took up a lot of your time. Can you forgive me?"

"...yep. She's a keeper." Anger smirked at the shock of auburn curls, reaching forward to shake Riley's mom's hand in a genuine apology, "she gives good hugs, smells pretty _and_ takes the blame for things! Anyone else feelin' mischievous?!"

"That's not really something we should take advantage of..." Fear hummed in displeasure. Still rubbing his sore cheek, he instinctively flinched as Anger stomped a foot in his direction, prompting a grin from the red emotion.

"She took the blame because it was her fault, dummy!" Disgust seethed back at him, "gosh, I hope no one from school saw that..."

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, that's very sweet of you, dear." Riley's mom offered an earnest smile, "it's good to see that you're honest."

"Well, no point in lyin'." Jess smiled back awkwardly, "so, you got a phone, Riley? We could text or something?"

"Umm..." Riley hesitated, glancing up at her mother.

"Maaaybe not just yet, honey," her mom furrowed her eyebrows. "You don't know her well enough yet."

"Aww..." Riley mumbled, her eyes hovering guiltily back towards Jess.

"...ah. No texting then." Jess contemplated, raising a hand to her chin, "how about MyPage? Got one of those yet?"

"No..."

"Just an ordinary email address?"

Riley glanced up to her mother for an answer for that one. But mom didn't look pleased. That was a no.

"Ohh, I know!" Jess grinned, pulling a biro pen from somewhere - it might have been her belt, maybe pocket? - she handed it to Riley, and wrapped her arm around the younger girl's chest, "mail mail! You can do that one, right?"

Another tacit exchange of glances. Mom didn't look delighted with this one either, but...

Soft heartbeat bumping against the back of her neck, an understandably confused Riley asked, "wh-where's some paper?"

"Pff, who needs paper? Just write it on my arm!" Jess smirked, and Riley readied the biro. "Oh hang on, wait a sec." Jess interrupted, noting the look on her mom's face, "how about I offer some collateral?"

"Collateral?" Riley echoed, confused. ' _This some kinda blood oath or something?'_ Anger's thoughts bounced through her mind.

"Yeah, a 'security deposit', if you want." Jess explained, noticing that Riley's mom's expression had already softened, "so in exchange for your address, which will be my most treasured secret - and I will fight laser dinosaurs to keep it a secret!" She coughed, realising that she was obviously derailing a bit, "i-in exchange, I will offer you something treasured of mine. Sound like a good idea?"

"That's all good in theory..." Riley's mom chuckled, "but what if the laser dinosaurs bite your arm off?"

"Well then they won't be able to read it anyway!" Jess humoured her, "they'd have to eat everything _but_ my arm, and then find a way to translate it into Dino, and I don't think they have those kinda resources."

"Well played." Riley's mom managed a smile, "so what collateral are you offering?"

"Well..." Jess muttered, reaching behind her with her spare arm, "I was thinking... this."

And Joy had to hammer down on the controls upon realising just what this collateral was. Riley's eyes bulged as Jess bestowed upon her;

Her guitar.

"Haaaaagh?!" She let out an almighty gasp, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my GOSH!"

"Interesting..." Her mom muttered, flipping her cell phone open and pressing a few buttons, "y-you must really care about my Riley!"

"Ohh, yes I do, ma'am." Jess said, "and her safety is paramount to me. Can't let a fan get eaten by laser dinosaurs now, can we?"

"I suppose not." Riley's mom had the 'mom smile', "okay Rileyyyy, we really have to go now. You give her your address, alright?"

"Uh-huh!" Riley nodded ferociously. Scribbling her name across the older girl's arm as neatly as a biro pen would allow, she wheeled herself out of Jess' grip and wrapped two arms around the acoustic's body, "what an AWESOME gift!"

"You take good care of Betsy, got it?" Jess ruffled her hair, "she's my oldest friend."

"I-I will! I promise!"

Jess folded her arms and smirked, "I trust you, newest friend. Just remember; that axe'll take out laser dinosaurs too!"

"Bring 'em on!" Riley giggled, wielding her new loaner guitar like a shield rather than a weapon, "I'll treasure it!"

"Ooh, wow! That was the best thing ever!" Joy exclaimed, before meeting up with Libby's gaze, "...oh, sorry. Shouldn't have done that, huh?"

"Well, it woulda made good practice for Passion, know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, I suppose..." Joy sighed, "so I screwed up, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that, Joy." Fear chipped in, "I mean, I would've been Anger's first practice run. What if he-"

Anger cut in by grabbing Fear around the neck, silencing him instantly, "what if I did somethin' wrong, and insulted her? She just gave us the most AWESOME thing ever, so yeah, what Fear was gonna say; what if I ruined the moment?"

"Why'd you have to choke me?!" Fear spluttered to him, to which Anger responded,

"'cause only _I_ am allowed to trash talk me."

"alright, I'll letcha have that one." Libby conceded, " looks like your girl's lettin' ya too."

"Hmm?" Joy queried, taking her eyes off of the screen where Riley's mom was teaching her about all the necessary 'lady things' she would now be needing. And her eyes widened with ecstasy as yet _another_ core memory rolled its way under the floor!

"What? Two in a _day_?" Anger was surprised, "we've never had two in a day before. Hell, two in a _week_ was enough of a surprise!"

"A-and it'd be three in a week if you count the hockey one." Fear added, hands still clutching his sore neck.

"Well, maybe these times are just really important to your girl." Libby explained, as a beam of light shot down from headquarters. Following along the metal path towards Boy Band Island, the personality island was subsequently illuminated, and then... destroyed?!

"hunh? What the?!" Fear gasped, as the obligatory cloud of smoke engulfed the entire island, "wh-what's going on?!"

"It looks like... remodelling." Sadness adjusted her glasses, "it kind of makes sense, you know? Jess is the one who gave her the guitar, and she's a girl. So Boy Band Island has been made... redundant?"

"Hah! Knew it was just a phase!" Fear laughed.

"Aaaand, most importantly," said Joy, her confidence back in full swing, "I've got another core memory! So we'll be back to normal before we know it, guys!"

"Ya know, it shoulda been big red here that got that core memory." Libby interrupted her self praising, "after all, it was s'posed to be his practice run."

Anger raised a hand to voice his opinion, however he was instantly drowned out;

"doesn't matter!" Joy cried, "the important thing is that Boy Band Island has been upgraded. And look how cool it is!"

Five pairs of eyes stopped to marvel at this new island; even Disgust looked a little bit impressed.

Four faceless blonde worshippers we kneeling down in prayer, around an obvious a blatant auburn haired angel wielding the obligatory guitar, who was in the process of handing it to a fifth worshipper. Light seemed to emanate from above somehow, and the backdrop seemed to contain an altar made of speakers, old school records and amps. While running, the island would play tunes, soft and melodic.

"Woooow~" Anger exhaled, "whadda we call it, guys?!"

"Well, obviously something simple, like 'Music Island'." Joy 'advised'.

"Too vague." Fear vetoed that idea immediately, "that island is clearly more complex than just 'Music'."

"Well alright smarty pants." Joy teased, "what would you name it?"

"Err..." Fear hesitated, clearly stumped. Anger was there to save his lack of imagination, however;

"Fender Bender? Angel Beats? The Vinyl Countdown?! C'mon you guys, these write themselves!"

"Uhh, I think one of those is already a thing, Anger." Fear raised a finger in concern.

"Pff, what're they gonna do, sue us?" Anger smirked back, "either way, there's some names for ya. Pick one."

"How about...?" Joy tapped a finger against her lips, musing up new names in her mind. However...

"Lady and the Amp." shocked everyone. Anger glanced over his shoulder, and smirked at Disgust of all people, who was looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Disgust!" Anger roared, "I didn't even know you liked this kinda stuff!"

"Hey, I don't really. Doesn't mean I can't make a good name every now and again now, does it?"

"Clearly!" Anger exclaimed, raising his enormous hand for a high five. Disgust's lack of a response quickly quelled him, however.

"Well uhh..." Anger scratched the back of his head, "callin' a vote! Who wants to name the new Personality Island, 'Lady and the Amp'?"

Three hands were raised; Anger's, Fear's, and Sadness'. Disgust simply smirked at the glory she could bask in, while Libby simply decided to stay out of the situation. Rolling her eyes and conceding defeat, Joy slowly raised her hand too.

"Alright, looks like everyone's in." Anger grinned, "that's the official name now!"

And as a twelve year old girl toddled down the city streets after her mother, with a new friend and a _new guitar_ firmly locked within her heart, it was safe to say that Riley Anderson was having a great day.


	11. Chapter 11

Bruised fingers plucked clumsily at taut strings, inspiring an almost alchemic combination of blood, sweat, and notes.

She may have been mentally blocking out the pain with each and every strained strum, however there was the simple fact that Riley Anderson hadn't improved at all since receiving her guitar four days ago.

Homework had gone ignored, promises had been 'delayed', hygiene wasn't important any more, and even hockey practice had been forgotten. Because as long as her new personality island, 'Lady and the Amp' was running, nothing else seemed to matter.

"A-are you sure it's wise... to just keep letting her do this?" Joy asked, stealing a sideways glance at Libby, "it's been four days, and she's barely done anything else."

"Don't see why not?" The pink emotion smirked back, keeping her eyes well and truly on screen, "long as she's feelin' the way she's feelin', there ain't no reason to stop, righ'?"

"Well..." Joy searched for an answer, looking to everyone else for backup.

"We're getting significant reports of pain in the fingers and wrists." Fear chewed his fingernails, "I-I really think it's time we took a break..."

"Hey, no gain without pain." Anger countered with a shrug. Even he was forced to wince, however, as a bruised index finger struck the five string in the wrong place, resulting in a painful twang. He returned his attention to the  _Puberty Picayune._

"We haven't showered in those three days either!" Disgust was ready to puke.

"Heyyy, so we smell kinda funky." Anger once again had a counterpoint, "we're gonna need to get used to that for when we're a rockstar."

"Oh c'mon Anger, use your brain!" Fear stammered, "we've barely _eaten_ in the last few days, either! The stomach's so empty it's eating itself!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Fear, stomachs can't do that..." Anger scarcely even dignified the purple emotion with a response, "'sides, we've eaten enough. We just need to get a bit better and then we can start gettin' famous. In the meantime... anyone know a nine letter word for stubbornness?"

"Stupidity?" Disgust deadpanned, and Anger grimaced back at her. "C'mon Anger, we're not getting any better!" Disgust deathstared him, "if anything, we're getting worse. Playing hurts too much, and we can't concentrate on this any more. Can we take a break? Please?"

"But how can we get Jess to like us if we don't get better at guitar?" Sadness piped up, drawing more sighs of frustration from involved parties.

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter, Sadness." Joy 'pleasantly' chastised her, "after all, doesn't she already like us? She did give us her guitar..."

"Ugh, I hate this whole even numbers thing." Anger groaned, burying his face in one hand, "we don't get tiebreakers any more..."

Clearly a head divided couldn't stand. Each other, that was.

* * *

 

_meanwhile..._

"E-ev, ey rooose, has its thorn~," a determined Riley mumbled to herself, absolutely insistent on getting this right. She may have fashioned a guitar pick out of her school's library card, however she was a risk of drawing blood from the fingers of her left hand, and her coordination was so far shot right now that even simple notes were starting to best her.

"Just like, e-v, ry night, h-has its d-ow!"

That one stung. Recoiling and then sucking on the accused finger, Riley glared at the guitar, "c-c'mon. Gotta get this right!"

"This is clearly insane!" Fear cried, "we can't just keep trying the same thing over and over, hoping it gets a different result!"

"It's called 'practice', genius." Anger rolled his eyes, "how else we gonna get better?"

"This isn't practice, you're just being obstinate!" Fear retorted.

"Obstinacy!" Anger cackled, scrawling down an answer on his crossword, "thank you, Fear!"

Anger, can you pay attention?!" Fear protested again. "Look at how swollen those fingers are!"

"you'll be swollen if ya keep arguin'." Anger raised a fist in Fear's direction.

"Oh, that's your solution for everything, isn't it?" Fear shouted at him, "if it doesn't agree, punch it!"

"and I can test that theory out if ya want?!"

"Ladies, hush!" Disgust shouted over the top of both of them, provoking glares from both, "Anger, pay some attention, will you?! You're the one 'in charge'!"

"Hmph." Anger grunted, tearing his gaze away from Disgust's death stare and towards the screen, where her dad had invited himself into the room.

"Is that teen spirit I smell?" He forced a chuckle, wrinkling his nose _at_ the smell.

"...dad?" Riley's voice was hoarse.

 _Uh oh. He's mad!"_ Fear gasped, noticing the look on dad's face as he surveyed the room, _"what do we do?!"_

"Room's a bit untidy, Riley. Your mom and I are a bit concerned. When did you last do... _anything_ else?"

"Umm..." Riley mused, eyes rolling to the top left. Mentally discounting restroom breaks, she mumbled, "...tuesday?"

Her dad's eye twitched. "Well, least you're being honest?"  
Kneeling down to talk to her properly, he said, "look, you love your new guitar, we both understand that. But it can't take over your life, okay monkey? You need to take breaks. Promise me?"

"A..." Riley faltered, her voice still scratchy, "...okay, dad. I guess I was being kinda silly, huh?"

"Just... overambitious, sweetie." Her dad smiled. "This stuff takes time. Getting frustrated won't help."

A sigh escaped Riley's lips. Placing her library card down, she removed the guitar from around her, and shakily rest it against the wall behind her.

"But I think I know what might help..." Her dad smirked, obviously having something planned. "Here, I found this outside."

"Huh?" A confused Riley stared at her father. However, that confusion soon turned to delight when another head popped around the door.

"Hello!"

Literally popping her head out sideways from behind the door was none other than Jess.

"Oh my gosh?!" Riley gasped, blushing a violent shade of crimson as Jess saw her in this state. "Uhh, Jess, hi! I-I um, err..."

"Evening, you," Jess smiled. "Your dad and I were having a secret meeting, discussing how best to surprise you. But he wasn't so comfortable holdin' me up sideways, and I didn't have an axe handy."

Riley's dad looked even more confused than she did at this statement, and Jess remained unperturbed. "So I guess you got plain old vanilla. What's happening?"

Riley's dad simply let himself out of the room, leaving the two girls in peace.

"N-nothing much..." Riley stammered, her embarrassment reaching new heights as she made a subtle attempt to hide her left hand.

"Nothing much???" Anger muttered at the screen. "Stupid thing. Why's she lyin', instead of telling her she's gonna be the next Van Halen?"

"Maybe cause she ain't," Libby shot him down. "Hey, stretch? I think this is your territory."

"I-it is?" Fear tiptoed closer to the console. "What makes you think that?"

"Look at these vitals," Libby explained, pointing at a few graphs on display. "She's nervous, she's sweatin', an' she don't wanna make eye contact. If anything, I'd say she's ashamed, won't y'all?"

"Oh gods, you're right." Fear acknowledged, reflexively biting his nails. "May I...?"

Anger shuffled to the right, giving Fear access to the console.

"Nothing much?" Jess asked. "I would've thought you'd been rockin' out, at least a little?"

"Well..." Riley was hesitant. A shaky right hand gripped the worn neck of the old acoustic, and once again her tired hands embraced the strings.

"Whoa damn, you have." Jess acknowledged, noticing the bruising on her fingers. "Been doin' a lot of it, looks like."

"Eheheh... yeah," Riley was failing to hide her obvious embarrassment. "I, I-I haven't gotten any better though..."

"Hang on, you were expecting to get better in that short a time?" Jess was stunned. "You gotta slow down a bit, silly goose! You can't go from Harrison to Hendrix in a few days!"

The light in Riley's eyes flickered just a bit. Only now, as the pain in her fingers started searing, did she realise that she just _might_ have been a bit overambitious here.

"Here, lemme see those..." Jess said, grabbing Riley's left hand and surveying the damage. The skin was red, blistering, and she'd even drawn blood across one knuckle, where she had slipped from the string.

"Oh gosh, you sure have done a number on these, haven't you?" She glanced between the girl and her injured digits. Planting a soft kiss on the bruised knuckle, she heaved herself up onto the bed next to Riley. "Alright, listen up. I'm retiring you for the day. Your hands need a break."

"Aww...? B-but-" Riley began in protest, however she was quickly cut off.

"App-p-p-p!" Jess interrupted, silencing Riley with a finger to her lips. "Promise me, and you get a special song. Just you. Okay?"

"Well, this seems like a no brainer," Fear shrugged. "We get a special song, could use it as a lesson, _and_ we could use the break."

"Agreed." Anger nodded in compliance.

"And a shower." Disgust added.

"And a hug..." Sadness mumbled.

"Sounds like we're in agreement," Joy smiled, standing next to Fear behind the controls. "I'll just get that for-"

"-Got it." Fear flipped a switch, drawing out a frown from Joy.

"O-okay...?" Riley nodded slowly, and passed the guitar over to Jess.

"Thaaaaat's the spirit," Jess smirked, plucking a few notes to check for tune. "Alright, just a liiittle adjustment..." she tweaked one of the knobs, "and- hey, why're you so far away? Come over here!"

"Over here? Where?" A confused Riley asked. "I'm like, next to you."

"Plenty of room in here." Jess shot her a warm smile, lifting her acoustic forward and beckoning Riley in between her arms. "Can't have a special song without atmosphere now, can we?"

"Well that's... forward!" Joy forced a chuckle. "Anyone else find it a bit awkward?"

"I think it's kinda cute?" Anger shrugged.

"It's romantic..." Sadness had her arms to her chest.

"And it's safe, too." Fear seemed happy enough. "I mean, what could go wrong?"

"Uhh, no personal _space..._!" Disgust sighed, edging away from the others. " _Aaand_ , we still need that shower. Don't wanna insult her, do we?"

"Well, she invited Riley, remember?" Fear tried reasoning with her. "So I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we smelled a bit."

"Yeah, that's probably got a cool nickname, like _eau de grunge_ or somethin'." Anger grinned, knowing the results immediately. Disgust groaned in the background, and Anger's grin widened.

"And look..." Sadness pointed towards the Personality Islands, where the newcomer Lady and the Amp was already activated. Colourful notes were bouncing out of the big speaker altar on a timely basis, while the auburn angel's wings now appeared to be glowing.

"...motion carried." Joy was won over.

And once again, Riley found herself ensconced between Jess' arms. Resting her head against the softness of the older girl's chest, a wide eyed, nervous Riley peered down at the acoustic guitar laid across her.

"Alright, special song, special song..." Jess mused, shifting her legs around Riley's slender frame. "A lesson and a serenade in one, here we go."

Jess took in a breath.

_"...hold on, little girl, show me what they've done, to you~"_

Her singing was soft and sensual, her warmth was captivating, and the mood was simply... lovely, as far as Riley was concerned. An old fashioned love song, sung entirely for her, by someone who had already crossed the threshold into 'friendship', and possibly tempted those boundaries further...

Riley was in a happy place right now, and Headquarters was certainly showing it.

 _"Hold on, little girl~"_ she crooned. _"Show me what they've done, to you. Stand up, little girl, broken hearts don't feel that bad..."_

The words were barely sinking in for Riley, but they were certainly having their effect on her emotions.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Fear shrieked, pummelling several buttons on the dashboard in an attempt to make sense of the situation. "Everything's plugged up! Why can't we hear her properly?!"

"Because ya don't need ta," Libby 'reassured' him. "She's singin' you a love song. That's all ya need to know."

"But how can we store this in the long term if we can't hear it?" Fear's panic was still skyrocketing. "This is an important memory, guys! Help me out here!"

"Ahh, it's just the same old garbage her mom listens to anyway," Disgust dismissed him. "We can use the other senses to remember this, okay?"

"But they're dulled as well!" Fear cried, rotating a wheel to the right and 'optimising' Riley's sensitivity.

"Well then... we'll just piece together what we can, and run with it!" Said Joy, feeling useful at last. "I'll just... take over for a moment."

Joy shuffled Fear out of the way, and readied herself in front of the controls. However, before she could bang her hand down on an important looking button...

"...hang on. Anger, you wanna give this a shot?"

"Hunh? Me?" Anger asked, stunned. "Why me?"

"So you can give that Passion or whatever a try. Sound like a good idea?"

"Well, err..." Anger faltered, clearly stumped. "I-I suppose I _could_..."

Joy stepped back, and Anger stomped forwards, manning the controls again.

"Alrigh', big Red, jus' like the newspaper said." Libby advised, sharing a genuine smile with Joy.

Twisting a couple of knobs he rarely even touched before, Anger was slow and deliberate with his movements.

"Alright..." The red emotion wiped his brow. "Hope this works...!"

An enormous red hand smashed down on the button, issuing the command and taking it out of his hands...

It was all up to Riley now.

Six pairs of eyes watched, in varying levels of anticipation, waiting for any sign...

"I-I'm the one who wants to, be with you~" Riley croaked out. Her voice was out of tune, and barely above a mumble, but it enticed a broad smile fromJess beside her.

_"Deep inside I hope, you, feel it too-"_

_"Feel it too, ooh~"_

And a shocked Anger was brought back into awareness with applause.

"Well done, Red!" Libby punched him in the shoulder. "Knew ya could do it!"

"I...I-" Anger stammered. " _I_ did that?"

"Ya sure did!" Libby laughed. "At this rate, you guys'll be gettin' rid of me in no time!"

"Wow..." Anger's eyes were gleaming.

 _"Yeah, just to be the next, to, be with you..."_ Riley finished, only to receive the shock of her life when two lips were placed against her cheek.

_Wooooh~"_


	12. Chapter 12

Jess' visit had done a lot for Riley. Not only had it kicked her responsible side back into gear - something Fear was all too happy to lord over - but also to pace herself with the things she did enjoy. If she limited herself to an hour of guitar per night, her fingers wouldn't get sore, and she'd have time for other commitments, such as hockey, the stack of homework that had started to pile up, and _basic hygiene_.

"Ohh, thank the gods!" Disgust gasped as the bundle of dirty laundry fell into the hamper. "I thought we were gonna stay smelly forever!"

Now donning some fresh pyjamas - cat patterned - and with a towel wrapped around her head, Riley Anderson was ready to settle down for the night.

"Night mom. Night dad." She muttered to her parents as her bare feet padded the carpeted stairs.

"Night monkey!" Her father yelled back, before both parents dissolved back into mindlessly staring at the TV. From what Riley could gather, it had something to do a cop who had gone corrupt, and had started dealing out his own brand of 'justice'. Anger had plead his case to stay up and watch it, but he was met with opposition across the board. Disgust didn't like the gore, while Fear was predictably terrified, Joy didn't feel it was beneficial to Riley's well being, and Sadness actually felt sorry for the 'poor criminals'.

So bedtime it was.

Her towel was removed and thrown towards the hamper on the way past. It missed horribly, but Riley made no attempt to retrieve it.

"B-but!" Fear panicked, "but we're making a mess! And we could try again if we go pick it up?!"

"Tempting..." Anger tapped at his chin. His fist launched Fear out of the way though. "But nah! You guys said ya wanted bedtime. So bedtime!"

Riley closed her bedroom door behind her, and quickly buried herself between the bedsheets, nestling into their warmth.

Her hand grasped for something on the bedside table. It was an envelope, and inside was a single sheet of paper.

Riley Anderson smirked. Although she could barely read the untidy scrawl on the letter, the very fact that it had been written to _her_ was enough to make her toes wiggle with delight.

Riley carefully pulled the letter out of its envelope - it had some interesting smell she couldn't quite identify - and scanned it once more. She could never tire of reading it:

 

_To my dearest Riley..._

_Sounds so fancy, huh?_

_Thanks for having me round the other day. Your mom makes the best mac and ~~cheeee~~ cheese. How did she make the sauce? I didn't even know you could have more than two ingreadients!_

_But yeah, I'm not here to discuss the inner workings of mac and cheese. How are you, m'lady?_

_And also, how are we? I didn't scare you on that day, did I? It was a pretty big thing, after all._

_Should it be a serious thing, and one we should ~~consd~~ consider taking further? Or should it not be a thing? Because if you don't want it to be a thing, it can stay thingless.  As long as your happy, I'm cool with it._

_Anyway. In all seriosity, the guys and I have another practice gig this Sunday at the school. You can tell me then if you want? I'll assign you an official nickname and evarything._

_But I've probably rambled on enough. If you could, I'd really like to see both you and a letter in my mailbox on Sunday._

_Toodles, Jess. x x x_

_P.S. Okay, I just reread this thing, and let me just clearify that I do not want you to be in my mailbox this Sunday._

_You'd get stuck... D:_

_I want a letter from you, and you to come to my school, on Sunday._

_Hope that clears things up!_

_Toodles again, Jess. ❤_

* * *

"...so what's the verdict?" Joy asked everyone.

"Heh. Toodles." Anger chuckled, inexplicably pleased by the word.

"I thought it was kinda nice...?" Sadness held her hands together.

"Ugh, did you see all the spelling mistakes?" Disgust wasn't pleased. "I don't wanna translate every letter we get, thanks."

"Speaking of which, we probably wanna get working on a response, don't we?" Fear asked. "I mean, if she wants a response by tomorrow..."

"She didn't specify tomorrow, did she?" Joy backtracked, having Riley scroll back up the letter to double-check.

"Heh, naah, she wanted us to climb into her mailbox tomorrow." Anger took full advantage. "I still say we give it a try. Who's with me?!"

"Uhh, eww?" Disgust glared at him. "We're not gonna climb into some gross mailbox just because we _can_ , are we?"

"Not to mention rust, splinters, nails!" Fear flailed his opinion. "We could get really hurt from this! Or even worse, _stuck_! Just like the letter warned!"

"We might get laughed at too..." Sadness piped up.

"Well, the challenge _is_ alluring, I have to admit," Joy smirked, resting a hand on Anger's shoulder. "But I think we're outnumbered here, huh Anger?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Anger couldn't help but chuckle. "Unless _you_ wanna make it a tiebreaker?"

"Wha? Me?" Libby sounded confused, what with Anger actually _asking_ for her input. "Sorry there, Big Red. I'm just consultin' now. Helps ta avoid that deadlock situation."

"Ohh... typical!" Anger grit his teeth. "If we went to deadlock, we coulda decided with Rock Paper Scissors or somethin'!"

"I don't like that game," said Sadness. "I always lose..."

"Either way, that's the decision made!" Fear was all too happy to announce. "And it looks like Riley's ready to call it a night. So much for getting that response started, huh?"

The dials and buttons on the dashboard were sluggish to respond, indicating that Riley was indeed tired.

"Ahh, well. The letter can wait 'til another day," Joy chuckled, watching Riley's vision fade out. "Let's get today's memories down the long-term, and _us_ ready for night mode! Who's on Dream Duty?"

"...me." Anger grunted, sighing pointedly.

"Okay, sounds good!" Joy made an attempt to boost Anger's already wayward spirit. "It'll be a nice, easy night tonight, I just know it."

"Trade ya." Anger cocked a grin at the yellow emotion.

"Ohh, so _tempting_!" Joy humoured him, while shepherding everyone else away to their rooms for the night.

"Hunh? Aren't you going to bed, Libby?" A confused Fear asked the pink emotion.

"Naww, I think I'll stay up a while." Libby dismissed his concerns. "I wanna see how Big Red handles this Dream Duty... thang."

"But you've seen it before... haven't-" Fear began, only to get cut off by Disgust. "Can it, Fear. She knows what she's doing."

"Why thank ya, green!" Libby smiled, taunting a shudder from Disgust. "I knew ya'd warm up to me!"

"Don't push it." Disgust deathstared Libby, which had zero effect. Disgust deflated upon realising just how little effect her stare had. "Goodnight everyone," she huffed, and slammed her door behind her.

"Well that was... dramatic." Joy used the best synonym she could think of. "Sweet dreams, everyone! Don't be afraid to wake me up if you need me, Anger."

"...sure." Anger grunted, his mug already half emptied. "G'night guys. Sleep well, ya lucky-"

His coffee was slammed down onto the dashboard, pressing a button and releasing a criminally loud 'BEEEEEP!'

He grinned at the effect. That button was never going to get old.

The remaining emotions slowly filtered out into their own rooms, leaving a disgruntled Anger alone with a strangely enthusiastic Libby.

"Well, grab yourself a chair. It's gonna be a long night." He groaned, already refilling his mug.

Libby took a spindly chair, and wheeled it right up close to Anger. He groaned, and she smirked in celebration. After all, she had no intention of making the night a boring one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, friends. In celebration of an amazing _two hundred_ kudos, here's another update. :3
> 
> We're past the halfway point now, in terms of chapters. There's still the practice gig to go, actual battle of the bands thing, mysterious obligatory plot twist/third act thing, and a finale. So yeah, that should soak up about eight more chapters. Just an estimate though. :3
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me through this, various peoples. I'll get it done eventually.
> 
> Also, happy Easter!


	13. Chapter 13

"So, bored yet?"

Anger yawned. Heavy lidded eyes desperately focusing on the _Puberty Picayune_ , which somehow seemed to have new news in it every day. He had already had enough of the night's shift. Perhaps it was because flying, glow in the dark puppies weren't exactly relevant to his interests. But regardless of any responsibilities the red emotion did or did not have, Libby's sheer enthusiasm grated on him.

"Oh, not at all, Red!" The pink emotion drawled. "I find it fascinatin', the way ya handle such an important task."

Glancing up from his paper, Anger grunted, "who you kiddin'?"

Paying no attention to any of Riley's functions, taking timely draughts from his drinking hat, and using the dashboard of the console as a footrest, he couldn't have made it any more clear if he'd tried; professionalism was a challenge, not a standard.

"Oh, I'm serious," Libby persisted, switching her gaze from her fingernails and instead focusing on the emotion behind the newspaper. "You've got everythin' under control here, and you're makin' it look easy! How'd ya do it?"

"Well, it's simple," Anger muttered through his funny pages. "You just ignore all the things you're s'posed to do until like an hour before Riley wakes up. Short of a nightmare, which I'll be watching out for, I won't need to pay any real attention for a good few hours, at least. Mind topping us up?"

Libby shrugged. "Sure, I can do that."

Another bottle was grabbed from the mini fridge beneath the console.

"Make sure you close it properly," Anger advised. "We don't wanna give Riley a head cold."

"You're the boss, Red," Libby smirked, pressing the fridge door shut and unscrewing the lid from the bottle. "Ya know, there is a way to make these dreams a lil' more... interesting."

The mugs either side of Anger's drinking hat were slowly refilled, fizzy static gently rising to the top.

"I know." Anger deadpanned, turning the page on his paper. "We're not supposed to, though, unless it's an emergency. Y'know, preventing a nightmare or something."

"Uh-huh." Libby returned the bottle of _Endorphin_ back to its place in the fridge. "Well, who's to say this isn't an emergency? What if that little doggy over there decided to attack yer girl?"

"Not likely." Anger dismissed Libby, managing a halfhearted glance at the runt of a dog and chuckling.

"An' if you were to _say_ it did?"

"Alright, alright..." Anger folded his paper away. "What're you getting at, lady? Cause I can't reread this paper in peace with you yammering at me!"

Libby grinned; her baiting had finally worked.

"Ever hear of 'lucid dreaming'?" She hinted, drifting ever closer to the controls.

"No, can't say that I have." Anger groaned, keeping an eye on the pink emotion.

"Well, how would ya like to learn?" Libby encouraged him. "Ya can 'influence' a dream in any way you'd like."

"Sounds like there's a catch." Anger narrowed his eyes. After all, it did involve learning.

"No catch at all, sugar," Libby drawled, her hands hovering above the dashboard. "What's the normal way? You gotta fill in a report or somethin'?"

"Nahh, no need," Anger muttered. "Ya can't push a button on that thing without Joy knowing."

"Oh?" Libby cocked an eyebrow. Before Anger could react, her index finger dropped onto a button on the console. Anger flinched, but the noises he'd come to associate with late night button pushing... didn't come.

"What the...?" Anger was confused. "How'd you do that??"

"Lucid." Libby explained, pushing another button without consequence, and watching as the dog in Riley's dream changed colour. "It's a way to control dreams, without letting anyone know. Wanna have some fun?"

"...ehh, whatever. Anything's better than this Shih Tzu," Anger shrugged, which escalated into laughter. "Eheh heh, Shih Tzu..."

"Alrigh' then." Libby smirked. "Come on over here, Red, an' I'll show ya how it's done."

"Fine, then..." Anger growled, throwing his newspaper on the floor and swivelling his chair over to where Libby was.

"That's m'guy," she smiled, ruffling Anger's lack of hair. "Well, I'll get right to it. Y'see how I pushed this button here, an' nothin' happened? Well, that's no accident. Every kid has a few. You just gotta learn how to control them."

"Okay, kinda makes sense..." Anger nodded. "But how's this change the dreams? How do we get rid of that damn puppy?"

"Ohh, not a problem!" Libby said, examining the console more thoroughly. "S'all a matter of pressing ya kid's buttons."

A button two up, and one to the right from the original was pressed, and suddenly the dog in Riley's dream was transformed into a cat.

"Whoo. Big change..." Anger groaned. "Answer me right now, lady. Are we wasting time here?"

"You tell me?" Libby smirked. Several more buttons were silently pressed, following a carefully controlled pattern that Libby had clearly spent a while gleaning.

"You wanna stop a kid thinking 'bout somethin'? Or maybe _make_ them think about somethin'?" Libby readied her thumb on one last button. "Then you just gotta learn the cheat codes."

Her thumb hit the button, and the loudest silence followed. Anger watched, in awe, as the dog that had turned into a cat, then an elephant, then a tree, then a _pineapple_ , transformed once again.

"Is that...?" Anger gasped, eyes widening.

"Uh-huh," Libby flashed him a satisfied smirk. "Now, wanna make this _fun_?"

"This ain't gonna make anyone mad, is it?" The withered remains of Anger's logic asked.

"Only if ya wake 'em up." Libby pressed down on another button before Anger could react.

 _"Oh, Riley..."_ The sultry voice in the dream called to her, looking directly at the 'screen'.

 _"Y-yeah, Jess?"_ Riley's voice called back. Any damage what could come from this had already been done. There was no stopping it now.

And a victorious glint appeared in Libby's scarlet eyes as her DIY dream unfolded.

 _"I think I've got some kinda bruise or something on my back,_ " Jess' voice continued, glancing at Riley over her shoulder. _"Could you take a look for me, please?"_

Anger's jaw dropped at what he was seeing. Ever so slowly, Jess swept her long, copper hair to the side, and unbuttoned her shirt from the front. It slipped down past her shoulders, _"See anything yet?"_

"You see somethin', don'cha?" Libby grinned, tightening Anger's tie.

 _"N-no, I can't see a thing,"_ Riley explained, peering underneath Jess' shirt and scanning her torso for anything that looked painful.

And Anger saw it all.

 _"I think I'm gonna have to get a better look,"_ Riley told Jess. _"Where exactly is it?"_

 _"The middle of my back."_ Jess explained, as her shirt fluttered down to the floor, leaving her midriff exposed.

"Oh, godsss..." Anger gulped. "I-I... don't think Riley should be dreaming about this sorta stuff. How 'bout we change it n-"

"She's growin' up, Red. Clearly this's somethin' she wants ta see." Libby shot him down. "But don't you worry. Things are 'bout ta get interestin'!"

 _"I... still can't see anything,"_ Riley stammered, still her awkward self even in her dreams. _"I-I..."_ she was audibly blushing, _"I think I'm gonna have to remove this! Is-is... is that okay?!"_

"Ab... ab-ababababah...!" Anger spluttered. Foam escaping from the mugs in his drinking hat, the red emotion was making little effort to hide how obviously flustered he was.

Riley's shaky hands eventually negotiated the straps loose, and Jess' entire back was visible.

 _"See anything?_ Jess' voice was barely above a whisper.

 _"Oh yeah. Y-you've got a small bruise right here,"_ Riley managed to keep her cool, placing the pad of her finger against the sore skin.

 _"Did you wanna... kiss it better for me?"_ Jess asked, and Riley jumped back a few inches from shock.

 _"O-okay..."_ Riley mumbled, edging back towards Jess, and planting soft lips onto the bruise.

 _"Mmm, yeahh..."_ Jess moaned. _"That feels much better, Riley. You could be my white mage any day..."_

Riley drew herself back up to her full height again, just in time for Jess to catch her eye.

_"And now, my dearest Riley," _The auburn said, releasing her hands from her chest and letting the bra fall loose._ "There's... something else I'd like you to see."_

And Jess began to revolve slowly, so that she would face Riley prop-

*RING! RING RING!!!*

"Bah?!" Anger flinched as if he were stung. "What the?! Who the?! W-why-"

But it turned out that the earth shattering noise that had Anger in a flap was merely, the phone.

"Yeah, what?" Anger barked into the receiver, the straws from his drinking hat hanging limp. "Oh, Dream Productions?! H-how are-"

"Pleasantries?!" The director at Dream Productions screeched back at him. "You hijack _Magical Sparkle Puppies 4_ for this, this... smut?! And then you have the gall to exchange pleasantries when we're forced to override the entire dream?!"

"Whoa, hang on, that wasn't my fault!" Anger tried to defend himself. "We've got a temp here, and she's-"

"I don't **care** whose fault it is!" The director shrieked back at him. "Fix that dream, NOW, before that harlot turns around, or it'll be _messy_ , GOT IT?!"

"...got it." Anger growled. The phone was practically broken off of the console as Anger crushed the receiver back into the dock. Hitting one of the buttons to 'resolve' the problem, Anger's undivided attention was turned to Libby.

 _"My little friend here."_ Jess' voice bounced through headquarters, with the dream having been modified so that she was now inexplicably holding a minigun.

But while Jess and her minigun may gave been spraying bullets at the robot zombies that had just appeared, Libby on the other hand was sweating them.

"Hey uhh, listen, big Red..." she giggled nervously. "You-you don' wanna get mad at ol' me, do ya?"

"You said, no one would get mad." Anger was spitting teeth. "You said, it would all, be, OKAY."

"We-well it should've been!" Libby flailed for an excuse. "How was I to know that they'd inter-"

"Oh, I've got a sneaking suspicion you know a LOT more than you say you do!" Anger yelled, his forehead steaming. "So you better start levelling with me, or I'll-"

"Anger?"

"What's going on...?"

"I'm on to you!" Anger growled under his breath, before spinning around and turning his attention to Joy and Fear, who had both been awoken by the night's 'experiences'.

"Mornin' guys! Sorry to wake you!" Anger called across the room, addressing the yellow and purple emotions. "Had a bit of a weird dream, eheh..."

"I'll say," Fear scratched his head. "That looks like that Jess girl, and... why's she holding a gun? And WHY did Riley just punch the wall?!"

The vision of Riley's dream faded away from her 'screen', only to be replaced with the real life event of her punching the wall nearest her bed. Pain alarms flared up in headquarters, which Anger quickly tried to silence once again, by pummelling the console.

Meanwhile a perplexed Riley had just withdrawn her bruised hand from the wall, and resorted to glaring at it, unsure exactly what made her punch the wall in the first place, what even woke her up at this hour, and what the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach was...

"Yeah, she's been real squirrelly tonight." Anger chuckled awkwardly, continuing to hammer at the console. "Why, you wouldn't believe how this dream star-"

"Anger."

The red emotion's rambling was stopped instantly, and he turned to face his yellow counterpart.

Hand on one hip, she was clearly displeased.

"Tell me, Anger," Joy tried her best to keep her calm. "Why is it that nothing has been done? This place is just as messy as when we left it."

"Well, you see uhh-" Anger stammered.

"And this dream looks like it's been _tampered with_." Joy's voice suddenly turned harsh.

"Hey, now that was completely necessary," Anger made attempts to justify Libby's actions. "You see, there was this dog, and - oh, forget it. I don't have an excuse, Joy. Just yell at me and get it over with..."

Joy was taken aback by Anger's earnest. _Usually he'd try and weasel out of trouble,_ she muttered internally. "W-well, I-"

"It's my fault," Libby eventually admitted, surprising Anger more than anyone else.

"I-I was jus' tryna teach big Red here about lucid dreamin'," Libby owned up. "Cause y'know, it'll be useful in the future. You can pretty much control yer girl with it."

"Is this true, Anger?" Joy's lips were thin.

"Oh umm..." Anger hesitated. "Y-yes. That's exactly what happened."

"Hmm..." The yellow emotion mused, rubbing her tired eyes. "Well in that case, I can forgive you both. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm tired, but I'm not gonna yell at you for working overnight. That'd just be mean..."

"Seriously?" Anger winced. This was not happening. Did he just get away with it?

"Like I said, it's cause I'm tired. Probably." Joy yawned. "Tidy this place up by morning, and you might be able to convince me it didn't happen. _Might_."

"I'll... do my best, Joy!" Anger smiled, feeling genuinely grateful that she hadn't taken the yelling route. "You guys get back to sleep now, alright? All of you." He added, chancing a sideways glance at the still petrified Libby.

"I-if you're sure, Anger," Fear re-tied the sash on his robe. "I'm a little worried about Riley's vitals, but I suppose I can trust you to fix it, if Joy can."

"That's right, Fear, no need to wor-r-r-ry..." Joy placed a hand over her mouth, stifling another yawn. "This is all just a dream, okay?"

"Hrm. Okayyy..." Fear looked around nervously. "You coming, Libby?"

"Be righ' there, Stretch," Libby answered him, before shooting a parting glance at Anger. "Use it well." she hissed.

"Hmph. Nice try, lady. You're not off the hook just yet."

Despite himself however, Anger did manage a slight grin at the pink emotion. After all, she showed him that Dream Duty could be interesting.

Three doors closed in the distance, and Riley's vision slowly fuzzed out again. Pain still registered in her bruised hand, but Anger wasn't surprised by this.

With a sigh, the red emotion looked around, and supposed that maybe headquarters _did_ need a bit of a tidy. After all, things had gotten quite... _messy_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hai people. As promised, there's something a little more T rated in this chapter, complete with innuendo, sensual imagery and everything. Hell, there's even a touch of plot in it to stop it from being filler.
> 
> As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Toodles! :3


	14. Chapter 14

Joy was the first to rise the next morning. Flouncing past a groggy Anger, who had soaked his _Puberty Picayune_  in a substantial amount of drool, she called, "Mornin' Anger! The place is lookin' spick! Must've been one boring night for ya, huh?"

Anger summoned the energy he needed to glance up at Joy, who was about seven leagues too vibrant for him this morning.

"Hey, Joy..." He grunted, his mouth dry. "Yeah, nothin' much ha...p-p-pened last night. 'Cept that one thing, of c-"

"Ahh, so _nothing happened_ , then?" Joy urged, winking at the red emotion. "I love nights like those, don't you?"

Anger blinked at her. His brain had gone to bed hours ago, it seemed.

"Anyway, you unload today's daydreams for me, and then go take a nap, sound good?" Joy danced him out of his seat. "And while you're away, I'll work on making this place span!"

"Span what?" Anger grunted, stomping past her to retrieve the day's daydreams.

"As in 'spick and span'...?" Joy waved her hands around each other, as if trying to manually whirr the cogs in his head. "Never mind," she dismissed with a giggle. "Just go take a nap, and I'll keep Riley happy for ya. If you're lucky, I might even be able to find a nice argument for when you wake up!"

"Yeah, sure..." Anger muttered, dumping the heavy box of daydreams over by the console. _"Watch, Libby."_ he hissed, making sure the pink emotion wouldn't be able to overhear him. _"I think she's up to someth-"_

"Mornin' y'all," said pink emotion strutted into the room, almost cheesily on cue. "How are ya this morn-"

Libby visibly balked, upon seeing exactly which two emotions were up.  
"O-oh, it's you two! Havin' a good time?"

Anger shot a glance at Joy, followed by a nod. Joy returned a tacit acknowledgement in earnest, and Anger stomped past both of them, muttering a blunt "careful!" to Libby.

"Well ain't he a ray of sunshine?" Libby smirked, as Anger picked up the day's copy of _The Mind Reader_ in the background. "What's the plan for today, Yellow? Anythin' good?"

"Well..." Joy mumbled, conjuring up a physical checklist on Riley's 'screen'. "I know you don't like me being in control, but no one else is up right now, and Riley's not awake yet, so that's okay, right?"

"Just 'til the others are here," Libby drawled. "After all, I still got plenty'a teachin' to do."

"Well, that's not a problem," Joy offered a polite smile. "I mean, it's all for Riley's benefit, so I don't... mind."

"Morning Anger." Disgust gave a half hearted greeting as she fluttered past the red emotion, coercing her bed hair into shape.

"Mornin'," Anger yawned, his eyes straining to focus on the front page of his newspaper, the main article entitled ' _Filler Night_ ', with a side article about protecting yourself against a robot zombie army.

Rolling his eyes at the 'events' of last night, Anger barged into his bedroom, just barely had the forethought to lock the door behind him, and crashed backwards onto his bed, not even bothering to change into nightwear. An embattled groan escaped from his depths, and next thing he knew, Anger had promptly fallen asleep with his newspaper over his face.

* * *

 

"Morning everyone..." A bleary eyed Fear stumbled into Headquarters. "What's the..." A yawn caught him mid sentence. "Plan for today?"

"Good morning, Fear!" Joy was almost effervescent. "Today's an important day. It'll be fun, and who knows? Some sparks _might just fly..."_

"Well now, you've sure changed yer tune." Libby smirked, breaking Disgust's staring contest and instead starting one with Joy. "Why's that, Yellow? You were so against this."

"Ohh, I just figured that, if it makes Riley happy, then what's the harm? It's like I'm doing my job, but without doing any work! Win win!"

"Uh-huh." Libby popped a pierced eyebrow. "And you're fine wit' that? It ain't gonna backfire or nothin'?"

"Well, _obviously_ I can intervene if needed..." Joy laughed her off. "But c'mon, she's just _in love_? What could happen?"

Libby relaxed her gaze. "Alrigh', you're the expert here..."

"...so anyway! Fear!" Joy bounced right back on track, causing Fear to flinch. "Libby raised an important point. If you can find a moment, we'd like a list of things that could go wrong for today."

"Gotcha Joy," Fear grabbed a pencil from nowhere. "I'll keep it as short as possible!"

"Yer learnin' good, Stretch!" Libby called from across the room, where she was keeping a strangely close eye on Disgust. "Y'see, when that happens, what ya wanna do, is-"

"I _know_ what to do, _Mom_..." Disgust growled, shrugging Libby's arm off of her shoulder. "I read your dumb book, remember?"

"Well yeah, but do ya remember everythin'?" Libby countered. "Like what to do when someone else-"

"Probably!" Disgust dismissed her, right as Sadness shuffled into the room.

Cuddling a strangely human looking plushie, resembling a young man with spiky black hair and an orange judo uniform, she mumbled something unintelligible, and teetered to a halt at the console, about a foot too close to Disgust. The green emotion corrected this problem immediately by shuffling away from her.

"Wha's goin' on, guysss...?" Sadness stammered, rubbing her tired eyes.

"We're wakin' up. Good timing, Sadness." Joy answered her, as Riley's vision fuzzed into view.

"Oww..." She mumbled, rubbing her bruised knuckles. "What a weird dream..."

"Weird dream?" Sadness and Disgust queried in unison, followed by Disgust glaring at Sadness for stealing her words.

"Ohh, that must've been the one that-" Fear began, however he was quickly silenced by Libby's fist in his mouth.

"Nnnot important!" Joy zoomed into the picture. "Because we've got a much more interesting thing happening today. Remember what it is, guys?"

"Err..."

"Umm..."

"Oh yeah..." Fear spat Libby's hand out. "I-it's that... thing! With the thing!"

"Great deduction, Fearlock." Disgust groaned, however she internalised her secret pride.

"Alright, maybe you need a reminder?" Joy grinned, inputting a memory code and recalling;

"Trriple Dent gum! We'll-"

"Ugh!"

"Agh!"

"Ohh..."

"ARRRRGHHH?!" Anger roared from his room, having heard it over his own snoring.

"Eheh, maybe not..." Joy rolled her eyes. "It's the day of the practice session, remember? At Jess' school?!"

And Riley's mood suddenly perked up from bemused to excited, albeit with Joy's help. Stumbling into some jeans and a long sleeve t shirt, she was practically bounding across the room in her ecstasy.

"Oh yeah, that thing..." Fear muttered, more interested in his list of things that could go wrong. "Wait, that thing?! How're we gonna get there?!"

"Well, mom'll take us, won't she?" Joy offered a light shrug in response. "C'mon Fear, mom's always happy to take us pl-"

"But we haven't asked her yet!" Fear flailed. "And we _know_ how difficult it is to wake her up on Sundays!"

"...oh."

That was something Joy hadn't taken into account. In spite of having known about Jess' gig for the past four days, it had never crossed anyone's mind to have Riley ask one of her parents for a lift across town.

"That's... odd," Joy frowned. "We don't usually forget things that important. What's changed?"

"She's a teenager now... more or less. Teenagers forget things." Libby drawled.

"I don't like that side effect very much..." Fear scratched his head with his pencil. "Cause now we've gotta convince mom to get up on a Sunday!"

Riley gulped. Her mother's heavy breathing was all too evident on the other side of the heavy wooden door. It may have been painted yellow with bright green lizards, but Riley was in no way disillusioned. The wrong word could have her disturbing a dragon.

"Mm... Mom?" She rapped on the door, a timid shave and a haircut. "A-are you awake, mom?"

"Oh gods..." Fear quivered, clambering on top of Sadness due to Anger absence. "Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods! She's not gonna be happy...!"

"It-it'll be okay Fear, don't... worry!" Sadness flailed, her balance awry what with Fear wrapped around her head.

"See? This is why we should've asked her _earlier..._ " Disgust pampered her hair.

"I'm... sorry to bug you mom," Riley persisted. "Are you awake... please?"

It took a while for anyone to respond.

"...am now," her mother's voice grunted from behind the door.

"What's up, monkey?" Her dad's voice followed with a yawn.

"Well, it's just that..." Riley began running her hands through her hair. "I uhh, there's a thing going on today that I wanna be at. Can one of you... drive me?"

"Bit short notice..." Her dad grunted, the tone of his voice sounding displeased. "Where is it?"

Riley's hand caught in a knot in her hair. "It's uhh, it's umm, OW! Y-you remember Jess' school?"

"On the other side of town?" An annoyed mom muttered. "For when?"

"I dunno..." Riley was now wringing her sleeves. "Soon?"

And silence pervaded.

Disgust rolled her eyes.

Fear was beyond help.

Sadness had a headache.

And Joy was merely clueless.

But sound eventually emerged. A semblance of humming, Riley could discern.

"Hm, hm, huh-hmm."

Followed by a sigh. "I never win that game..."

* * *

 

Along the road they pootled, in the tiny car. Riley just stared off into the distance while her dad - still looking rather bedraggled - stared unblinkingly at the road ahead.

"Oh, man, this is awkward..." Disgust muttered.

"Anyone wanna... attempt conversation?" Fear whispered, having finally dismounted Sadness.

"Something tells me that's not a good idea, guys." Joy was less than enthusiastic at the idea.

"Well we gotta do something!" Fear flailed.

"Err... thank you, for taking me all this way, Dad." Riley smiled to her father.

"Not a problem," her dad barely responded. "Just give us some notice next time."

"I-I meant to, but I forgot..." Riley's head sank.

"That's water under the bridge now, Riley. Don't worry about it," her dad said. "But I _don't_ appreciate that tone of voice."

"Wh-what tone of voice?!" Riley squeaked, as Fear manned the controls. "I-I was just responding to you!"

"What's going on?" Joy raised an eyebrow. "That was a harsh thing to say."

"We didn't have a tone of voice, did we...?" Sadness clung onto her plushie.

"Quick. Someone go get Anger." Joy ordered, prompting gasps from everyone.

"Wha?"

"Why?!"

"Why does _he_ need to be here?"

"Because dad's trying to start up the Friendly Argument Section, only... not so friendly." Joy explained. "Please, just... quickly, someone go get him!"

"Fear, you go get him!"

"I can't, I'm _driving_!"

"Well then I'll drive!"

"Yeah, cause that'll fix our tone of voice!"

"Ohh, I'm gonna punch you til you're purple!"

"I-I'm already purple!"

"Well... til you're red then! That way you can pretend to _be_ -"

"OKAY!" Joy 'intervened' by physically standing between the two. "Fighting isn't gonna solve anything!"

"But you just asked us to get Anger in here, and take part in a real fight!" Fear complained.

"Because he's good at it," Joy narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, and we're not?"

"Disgust, we don't have _time_ for this..."

"We don't have time for this entire argument!"

"Right! There's only one fair way to do this." Joy raised a fist.

Fear flinched, but obliged, and also raised a fist. Disgust followed, and Sadness eventually complied.

"On three, alright?" Joy instructed. "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Four fists clashed, and were changed accordingly. Two rocks, one paper, one scissors.

"Ugh."  
"Well this isn't going anywhere..."  
"Tournament mode!" Joy enthused, and people switched targets. The two rocks, Sadness and Disgust, faced off, while Joy played Fear.

"Ohh..."

"Beatcha!"

"Yesss!"

"Dangit!"

And then it was Sadness' turn to face Fear. Two fists quivered,

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

"...wow."

"Oh, man..."

And Fear fell to his knees. "I'm doomed!"

"Oh, grow up, Fear," Disgust groaned at him, as Sadness simply stared in disbelief at her open palm. "You lost the game, so go wake up Anger!"

"Alright, I guess..." Fear gulped, picking himself up off the floor and shuffling away from Headquarters. "Prepare my tombstone for me, will ya Disgust?"

"No way! I'm not touching an icky tombstone!" Disgust retched.

"You could at least humour-" Fear began.

"Don' worry, Stretch!" Libby slapped him on the back. "I'll make ya a nice one!"

"...thanks." Fear's voice was hollow.

"We'll keep Riley functioning til you're back, okay Fear?" Joy offered him a sympathetic smirk. "Sadness'll drive, just to keep things safe. Got it, Sadness?"

"O-oh, okay!" Sadness' consciousness finally snapped back into place. She stopped staring at her hand, and shuffled up to the console, as Disgust edged away from her.

"Hey Disgust! Wanna see who wins outta you and me?" Joy called across the room to Disgust, as Fear hobbled away. Sweat cascading down his brow, the purple emotion was quivering violently. He might have prepared a list of 182 things that could have gone wrong for Riley today, but literally nothing had prepared him for the very visceral experience his body was likely to suffer at the hands of Anger.

Eyes scrunched up, the purple emotion slowly approached Anger's door. The once proud oak finish had been replaced with a meek plasterboard. The handle was on its last gasp, barely even attached to the door, and the door itself featured more than its fair share of dents and holes. Some had been covered. Others were once covered, but then smashed open again. Some weren't even that lucky.

Fear's hand barely caressed the door's splinters. "Uh, U-umm... t-time to get up now, Anger."

The red emotion continued to snore loudly, as Joy cried victoriously from Headquarters and caused Fear to flinch. Anger growled at the noise.

"Ohh..." Fear grimaced. " _C'mon Anger...!"_

An actual knock on Anger's door - the standard shave and a haircut - yielded no results either.

Fear gulped, and took in a breath. "T-tuh... Tuh...!"

He wheezed, and lost his footing. His lungs burning from the combination of nerves and exertion, Fear tried once again. "T-t-t-trriple dent gum, we'll make y-"

"BAAARRRRGH!?!"

Fear squealed like a four year old, and fell away from Anger's door just as it swung open.

"Take this, gum commerc-" Anger bellowed. Wielding a chair above his head, with his newspaper stuck to his face, and his foot _through_ the remains of his door, Anger was a sight to behold. His expression nothing short of livid, it took a while for him to notice;

"...oh, it's you Fear."

Anger threw the chair he was holding back into his room, where it landed with a ceramic sounding crash. "Did ya really have to use the gum commercial??"

"S-sorry Anger!" Fear stammered. "But Joy told me to come get you, and it seemed pretty urgent?"

"Urgent?" Anger ripped the stuck _Mind Reader_ from his forehead. "The hell's so important it needs _me?_ And urgently??"

Anger disappeared back into his room. Tearing off his business shirt and throwing it in no particular direction, he pulled on an identical one, and rubbed his tiny eyes.

"Riley's getting yelled at by dad, and we can't figure out why!" Fear flailed at him from the remaining half-door.

"An argument?" Anger grinned. Kicking a chunk of door from his foot, the red emotion straightened his tie. "That's my kinda wake up call!"

And Anger charged past Fear into Headquarters, ready to fight his corner!


	15. Chapter 15

"Alright Dad! Let's argue!" An exhilarated Anger charged towards Headquarters, with Fear quivering in tow.

"I-I'm sorry, Dad. I didn'-didn't mean to use the wrong tone of voice, and I umm..." Riley stammered to her father. His gaze remained fixed on the highway ahead.

"It's gonna be the best argument ever!" Anger laughed, somewhat maniacally, as his charge continued.

"You need to remember that we're not a taxi service, Riley," her dad instructed. "We can't just ferry you around all the time."

"I-I know..." Riley mumbled. "I just... forgot to ask."

"Was the hallway always this long...!" Anger gasped, charging along what felt like the same stretch of hallway for about the twelfth time.

"I don't wanna hear your excuses, okay Riley?" Her dad's moustache twitched. "Just... promise me you'll give us some notice next time?"

"This has gotta be the longest hallway ever!" Anger continued to stomp down the corridor towards Headquarters.

"Alright dad," Riley mustered up a smile. "I-I'll... try."

"Okay, this is going a lot better than expected..." Joy frowned in surprise. "Good work, Sadness. You handled that really-"

"Here!" Anger burst out of nowhere. "God damn, I swear that hallway was never gonna end. Where's the argument?! Lemme at it!"

"Errm..." Joy hesitated. "I, actually think we'll be fine now, thanks Anger?" Joy had to stifle a giggle. Disgust wasn't so obliging however, and let out a derisive snort.

"What?!" Anger gasped. "You mean I got up early, made an effort, just ran for freakin' ever, and now I don't even get to enjoy a nice, friendly argument?!"

"S-sorry, Anger...!" Joy tittered, her arms around her waist. "I... really did think we n-needed you for this one!"

Anger gawked at the slowly increasing hysteria around him. Disgust was on the floor, Joy was giggling heartily, and even Fear and Sadness had managed meek chuckles.

"What's so damn funny?"

The laughter only increased.

"O-oh, it's... n-n-nothing, don't worry!" Disgust kept her voice just long enough for a coherent answer.

"...dood!"

Even Fear crashed to the floor in laughter, clearly at Anger's expense now.

"Will somebody, tell me..." Heatwaves began shimmering around Anger's head. "What's so funny?!"

The laughter stagnated just enough for Libby to flounce up to the red emotion, and hold a hand mirror in front of him. The red emotion initially flinched at the sight of his own reflection, but when he turned back for a second look...

"Oh, geez...!" He sighed, flailing his way away from Libby and over towards a sink. "Good job tellin' me, Fear!"

"Would you have believed me if I told you?!" Fear spluttered back, his ribs aching from so much laughter.

"Why wouldn't I?" The red emotion growled back, now resorting to scrubbing at his forehead with a sharp brush.

"Cause it was too ridiculous to believe?" Fear had gathered himself at last. "After all, you fell asleep and got covered in newsprint. What's to believe?"

"Oh, and that's enough to keep all of you quiet?" Anger groaned, having found a floor buffer from somewhere, and began using _that_ on his forehead.

"We just... didn't wanna make you mad, that's all," Joy shrugged.

"Well..." Anger threw the floor buffer away. "Ya didn't do so good, huh?"

Anger dared another glance at the nearest reflective surface. And his forehead, while very shiny now, still had the word 'dood' plastered across it.

"RrrrrrAAAAAGGGHHHH!" The red emotion roared, his head igniting. The newsprint on his forehead literally melted away, and pooled under his eyes.

...well it's off my forehead at least," he sighed.

"Yeah, but now you look like that guy from the band her dad likes!" Disgust cackled at him.

Anger clenched his fists and growled, but his attention was stolen by something else:

"Riley?"

"Rileyyyy..."

"Riley!"

And his priorities snapped back into place. "Dammit! Who's driving?!"

"Hunh? M-me...?" Sadness mumbled back at him.

"Then pay attention, will ya?!" Anger threw his giant hand at the screen. Through Riley's eyes, the six emotions could see her dad's half concerned, half exasperated expression.

"Earth to Riley...!" He called across to his daughter

"Quick! Someone respond already!" Fear cried, and suddenly five emotions were fighting over the controls.

"...huh?! What the?! Who'sa- aaayeeee I... didn't do it!" She spluttered, effectively repelling her dad with her speaking in tongues.

Said dad furrowed his eyebrows. "...where did _that_ come from?"

Riley just shot a bemused look back at him.

"Oh great! Now we look guilty!"

"We should've paid attention more..."

" _You_ shoulda paid attention more! You were the one _driving!_ "

"You should've been less distracting! Quit makin' fun of others for once!"

"Not my fault you looked stupid."

"GrrrAGGHH-"

"Guys, simmer down!" Joy intercepted. "Dad just looks worried, not mad!"

She wormed her way between the other four, and started working the controls.

"Eheh, sorry dad. I was just... distracted, is all!" Riley smiled sheepishly.

"That's a word for it." Her dad was still wide eyed. "You were distracted for a good ten minutes, young lady."

"Ten MINUTES?!" Fear babbled, chewing his fingernails. "How did we not notice anything for ten minutes?!"

"Blame it on Marilyn Mad-son over there," Disgust pointed accusingly.

"Why you...?!" Anger began, however his rage dissolved into an unexpected chuckle. "...heh. Mad-son. That's actually clever!"

"You know it." Disgust wiggled her nose.

"Look, it's no one's fault!" Joy once again tried to calm the tides. "Let's just convince dad we're not crazy, alright?"

"Got it-got it." Four voices echoed behind her in near unison.

"I was just... thinking about all the exciting things that could happen today." Riley met her dad's stare.

"Well, nothing too exciting, alright?" Her dad puckered his moustache. "I don't want you getting in trouble."

"Tr-trouble?" Riley echoed as Fear manned the controls. "I'm not gonna get in trouble, dad... they're good guys..."

"But they're in a rock band, Riley." Her dad advised, dusting off some of his own memory banks and recalling his own youth. "One minute it's a weekend jam at the school. Next minute there's anarchy, pyromania and stealing traffic co-"

Riley sighed heavily.

"...alright, I trust you." Her dad said. "I... was a bit presumptuous there, Riley. I'm sorry."

"They're good guys, dad. Don't worry." Riley managed a smile.

"Well, you better go meet them, then." Her dad smirked back, and unclipped his seat belt.

"Wha? We're here?"

"Have been for the past few minutes."

"...oh!"

Riley wrestled herself out of her seat belt as well, and quickly wrapped her arms around her dad's midriff. "Thanks, dad!"

The passenger seat door was unlocked, and a little blonde tumbled out of it.

"Any idea when you'll be done?" Her dad asked.

"Umm... I'll text you?" Riley mumbled.

"...alright then. Try to give us some notice this time, okay?"

"I'll do my best!" Riley sent her dad a thumbs up.

"Okay then. I'm trusting you, monkey."

The engine of the car was once again ignited.

"Oh, and you did well, by the way." Her dad smiled, before peering over his shoulder, and reversing back out onto the road.

"...bye, dad!" A confused Riley waved her father away.

"Did well?" Joy raised an eyebrow. "Meaning... what? Was that some kinda test or something?"

"What? So the whole argument thing was a fraud?" Anger grasped at nothing.

"Would appear so," the yellow emotion shrugged. "...anyway! We're here! Now that that's all cleaned up, I'll help us-"

Libby coughed.

"I mean _you guys'll_ go find Jess!" Joy saved herself, and allowed the other four to lead the search.

In standard Riley fashion.

"Hellloooo~" the blonde called to no one as she traversed the dark, abandoned hallways. "Anyone here...?"

'Here-here-here-here-here...' her voice echoed after her.

 _"Oh great, no one's here..."_ Anger grumbled.

 _"Maybe they don't care..."_ Sadness chipped in.

 _"They could've at least given notice,"_ Disgust sighed.

 _"And who knows what could jump out of these shadows and eat us!"_ Fear shrieked.

 _"C'mon guys,"_ Joy tried to interject, as Riley's shaky hand opened a random door to an empty classroom. _"I'm sure it's not that-"_

 _"Hey, maybe one of those California Bears will attack!"_ Anger sounded gleeful.

 _"I-I don't wanna get eaten by a bear!"_ Fear made Riley jump.

 _"Get a grip, moron..."_ Disgust growled. She shoved Fear away from the controls. "Whaddya think you're doing, trying to drive when it's _my_ turn?"

"It's no one's _turn_ , Disgust." Fear straightened his sweater vest. "We're supposed to work together on this!"

"Sure. Together." Disgust's voice was biting. "Just as long as I get more than you."

"H-how is that fair?!" Fear flailed.

"It isn't. But get used to it." Disgust sneered at him.

"Is she s'posed to be like that...?" Joy muttered to Libby behind her hand. Her expression dropped when Libby returned an enthusiastic nod.

"Oh, dear..." Joy sighed. But she perked herself up, and clapped her hands. "Okay, pep talk!"

And four emotions left the console to begrudgingly oblige Joy.

"Now, I couldn't help but notice that our gears are grinding a bit here." Joy kept her hands low and disarming.

"Well duh..." Disgust scowled.

Joy fired back a disapproving stare.

"Case and point," she sighed. "Now, how're we gonna control Riley, if we can't even control ourselves?"

"Blame these stupid new jobs," Disgust spoke to her nails.

"Stupid?" Anger narrowed his eyes. "She's growin' up, Disgust. You wanna stay a kid, fine, but these new jobs are important!"

"You're just saying that cause you got the best one." Disgust quipped back immediately.

"Arrrgghhhh...!"

"I-I think Disgust means that these new jobs are a lot of stress, a-and-" Fear began.

"Hey! I can talk for myself y'know!" Disgust snarled at the purple emotion.

"Oh really?! I hadn't noticed!" A rare attempt at sarcasm by Fear. Followed by a cower at Disgust's raised fist.

"Okay okay, all of you! Quit the fighting!" Joy cried over them all, flailing her arms for attention.

It did nothing.

"Ugh..." Joy groaned, as they squabbled relentlessly. "Can you maybe give us a hand, Libby?"

"If y'all insist..." Libby drawled, and peeled herself off of the couch. Boots clinking with each step, she coughed;

"The Saints are overrated!"

And headquarters was full of hushed silence.

"How dare you?" Anger eventually growled.

"Sorry, sorry folks. Had to be said." Libby waved her hands dismissively.

"But you were all fighting so much, that I didn't know what else to do!" Joy intervened. "So _thank you, Libby_ , for that little bit of err... shock therapy."

"Not a problem." Libby shrugged, and resumed her place on the couch.

"Now, I know things are a bit odd at the moment..." Joy sighed, staring three emotions down. "But we've gotta work together on this! The way you all were fighting, it was like a - huh? Where's Sadness?"

The other three emotions took note of Joy, and finally realised that Sadness was not among them.

"That's weird," Anger grunted. "She was here a minute ago."

"Not here is good, far as I care." Disgust shrugged, and Fear folded his arms.

"You have _got_ to start being nicer to Sadness."

"Whatever..."

"Oh wait, there she is...!" Joy laughed with relief, and four emotions were reunited with the little blue.

"Why're you driving, Sadness?" Joy asked. "We were having a pep talk?"

"W-well I, uhh..." Sadness wrung her hands. "Someone needed to watch Riley, a-and I wasn't arguing, so I... helped?"

"She would've been fine on her own for a while, Sadness," Joy shook her head. "When I said 'pep talk', I really meant everyone, y'know?"

"I-I know, but..." Sadness instinctively poked at a few buttons on the dash. "But it looks like Riley should be sad right now. See?"

Sadness drew attention to the 'screen', where the fruitlessness of Riley's efforts was obvious.

"Anyone?" Riley continued calling out to the nothingness. Her voice little more to the building than a shrill echo, she tiptoed through the seemingly empty building.

 _"Well this is annoying,"_ Disgust groaned. _"There are so many other things we could be doing right now."_

 _"Ohh, they're here somewhere, Disgust..."_ Joy laughed her off, as Riley tried one of the many doors at random, only to find it locked.

 _"How'd ya find them last time?"_ Libby prompted.

 _"We just kinda... stumbled across them._ " Anger conceded.

 _"Ahh, ya got lucky,"_ Libby's voice raised an octave. "How interestin'. If only your girl could somehow sense where they were, huh?"

"Sense?" Several lights flickered on the dashboard.

"Libby, you're a genius!" Joy practically threw her arms around the pink emotion, and regretted her spiky decision instantly. "Ahh! Owee...!"

Libby shook her head, and rolled her eyes.

"Fear! Focus the hearing!" Joy rubbed at her sore arms, and the purple emotion obliged, fine tuning a dial on the dashboard.

And once again, as if history were repeating itself, Riley's attention was stolen by distant melodies...


	16. Chapter 16

Riley Andersen glanced around the darkened ambience of 'high school at weekend', and listened intently.

And wouldn't you know it? Just like last time, the blare of rock music enticed her from the halls.

The tween followed her ears, tuned into the repeating chords, no doubt from her Jess' guitar.

 _"Oh hang on, this hallway looks familiar,"_ Joy announced.

 _"They all look pretty much the same, Joy."_ Anger sighed.

 _"Nooo, I'm sure this hallway is familiar. **Almost**_ certain!" Joy enthused. _"See? There's that weird dip in the floor we tripped over last time!"_

 _"A-and there's that busted fire extinguisher!"_ Fear added to the conversation.

 _"So it should be around here... somewhere?"_ Joy mentioned.

 _"That's assuming they used the same classroom..."_ Disgust was, as always, the voice of pessimism.

 _"Yeah, well why wouldn't-"_ Joy began, however their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, _loud_ guitar chord!

 _'dicadunnn...!'_ three chords rang out in quick succession, followed up by the telltale drumbeat, and three more chords. A far more energetic tune than Riley was used to, it wasn't long before the inevitable lyrics came;

"We are fighting, dreamers!"

_"Takami wo me-ezashite!"_

"Fighting, dreamers!"

 _"nari, furi ka-amawazu!_ "

Riley was stopped abruptly at the door.

"Who was that voice?!" Fear predictably panicked. "And why don't we understand a word he's saying?!"

"Ohh relax, Fear! They've just got someone else singing today!"

"But what was wrong with Jess?!" Fear flailed. "She's the entire reason we're here! And what about those weird words?!"

"Well what if she's still there?" Anger shrugged. "She doesn't have a guy's voice, so she can't sing in one."

"Maybe she's on backup today...?" Sadness offered a timid reassurance.

"As for the weird words..." Joy read off some graphs. "Are they a language? I don't think they'd just make up words for the song, would they?"

"Been done before." Anger grunted.

"They have?" Joy was affronted. "Ehh. We'll just have to find out the normal way! Hang on, we're going in!"

And Riley's shaky hand grabbed the door handle.

 _"I'm not sure this is a good idea..."_ Sadness impeded her slightly.

 _"Y-yeah, what if we interrupt them?"_ Fear was in agreement.

 _"Hey, they wanted us here."_ Anger added his two cents.

 _" **She** wanted us here._ " Disgust was ready and willing to point out.

 _"Well, it's all water under the bridge now!"_ Joy exclaimed excitedly, as Riley slowly edged the door open.

 _"Don't disturb them, don't disturb them, don't disturb them...!"_ Fear panicked outwardly. But as luck would have it, Riley's feet did not receive that memo.

"Whooa-oh!" The little blonde flailed, tripping over her own shoelaces and faceplanting the floor once again.

 _"Ohh, dear..._ " Anger groaned, punching the console to shut up the pain alarm.

"Eheh?!" Joy shrugged. "Not the... _best_ of entries..."

"Pretty terrible one if ya ask me." Disgust huffed.

"Well no one did." Anger narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm saying it anyway!" Disgust taunted him, causing the red emotion to growl.

"ANYway! Back to normal!" Joy enthused, and Riley scrambled back to her feet.

"Rileyyy!!!" Jess cried, halting the music almost instantly. Taking just a moment to make sure her guitar was removed safely, she literally jumped from the bandstand, and dashed across the floor to her. "Oh gosh, are you okay? You're doing that a lot..."

"I-I'm okay, don't worry." Riley smiled awkwardly. "I fall over a lot."

"That's good to hear... I think?" Jess mumbled, and pressed the blonde into a strong hug.

"Yo Riley!"

Riley edged her fuzzy vision past Jess' shoulder to see Stevie the drummer raising a large hand into the air.

"That's quite an entrance you made, again." He grinned.

"Yeah, nice of you to drop in," Bassist added with a chuckle, and earned a drumstick to the back of the head as punishment.

"Okay, how was that on the funny meter, guys?" Joy asked.

"Ehh, timing was good." Anger nodded.

"Mocking our pain was just _mean_." Disgust added.

"Look who's talkin'," Anger chuckled, prompting another deathstare from the green emotion.

"The material's old, though." Fear chipped in. "All in all...?"

Fear shared a glance with everyone else. Anger and Disgust were still shooting daggers, while Sadness wasn't exactly versed in funny, and Libby didn't care.

"... _kinda_ funny?" The purple emotion shrugged.

"Alllright then! Let's give it a six. Sound fair?" Joy smirked.

"Roger that," Fear acknowledged her, and twisted a dial on the console.

"Eheh, dropped in..." Riley managed a small chuckle.

"Not cool, Bassist!" Jess called back at him. "She got hurt there! That's not funny!"

"I-I wasn't-" Bassist began, his hands raised dismissively.

"Just for that, no more nerd songs!" Jess chastised him, albeit with a grin.

"Aww, really?!" Bassist stepped out from behind his mic. "But we didn't even get to the solo! And you like solos!"

"Well I like Riley more." Jess wrapped her arms tight around the blonde and pouted at Bassist. Meanwhile, Riley was turning crimson.

"Aww..." Bassist groaned at the ceiling.

"B-but..." Riley stammered, a fierce blush tanning her cheeks.

"Ahh, can't see a thing!" Fear cried. "What're we gonna do with all this steam?!"

"Let it out somewhere, already!" Anger yelled back.

"Okay, okay!" Fear gasped. Already dripping with sweat, the purple emotion stumbled around for the console. Unable to see the hand in front of his face however, he ended up slamming a handful of random buttons...

And suddenly, Riley's limbs were wrapping themselves around Jess

"Mhmm...?" Jess murmured, a distinct purr in her voice. "Y-you heard me, Bassist. No more nerd songs."

Bassist simply rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Yo! Pass me my stick back, fool!" Stevie yelled at him to break the silence.

"Well maybe you shouldn't throw it at things?" Bassist cocked a grin back at him.

"Anyway, you ladies have fun!" Jess called over the pair of them. "I'm gonna take a break for a bit, okay? And this one's coming with me."

"This one?" Fear was confused. Finally waving the steam away, he muttered. "This one who?"

"Us, idiot!" Disgust rolled her eyes at him. "Isn't it obvious?"

"I suppose..." Fear scratched his head. The steam had finally filtered away enough to de-cloud Riley's vision again, and showed Jess steering her out of the room.

"Amber, take over." She winked.

 _"Amber? Ain't that the kid who don't talk?"_ Anger raised an eyebrow.

Said Amber nodded. The bushy haired ravenette adjusted her glasses, and calmly stepped up to the mic where Bassist was standing. "Ahem."

"Ohh, this is gonna be awesome..." Anger's voice was jittery with excitement. But his face soon fell when Riley was steered out of the room, and the door was shut. "Awwww...?!"

"Ohh, quiet down Anger," Disgust seethed at him. "You've still got plenty to do."

And as all manner of roaring noises escaped the band room, Riley found herself face to face with a rather sultry looking Jess.

 _"...oh. She's not bad too."_ The red emotion grunted.

"H-hi." Riley smiled, and waggled the fingers of one hand.

"You, little missy, move faster than I thought." Jess smirked, holding her up close. "Gettin' a little frisky in there, weren't ya?"

"Hunh? We were?!" Fear spluttered. "What did we do?!"

"Must've been the steam." Joy surmised. "We couldn't see, after all..."

"I... I was?" Riley echoed Fear's statement. "I, umm... I-I didn't... mean-"

"Sshh..." Jess placed a finger on her lips. "I'm not mad, don't worry."

She manipulated Riley's hands, "after all, that's what we're supposed to do, isn't it?"

Riley's hands pressed into Jess' soft curves. Five digits caressed her firm hip, running along the rough denim of jeans, while the other five were noticeably twitchier, causing alarms to bleat loudly inside of her head.

"WAAAAH?!" Fear's arms fluttered out behind him as he did laps of headquarters. "Panic stations, everyone! This is not a drill!"

"Calm, _down_ , Fear!" Anger commanded, grabbing the purple emotion by the scruff of the neck and literally tying him into a chair. "There's no need to panic!"

"Y-y-y-y-yes there is!" Fear protested, hopping along in his chair. "Mom taught us to never let _anyone_ -"

"Mom's not here!" Disgust scowled, in rare agreement with Anger.

"Yeah, and besides, it's not _her_ touching, it's _us_." Anger muttered, pressing a few buttons on the console. Riley flexed her fingers, and prompted a grin from Jess.

"What part of this seems okay to you two?!" Fear flailed.

"The part where she gave us permission." Disgust deadpanned. "Now, how about you be quiet and let the important ones take over?"

And Libby beamed at her. Sidling alongside the green emotion, she drawled. "Why, what a good idea, Green! That's the best one you've had all day."

Disgust just grimaced back at her.

"Nnnngh!!!" Fear whined. "Joy? Sadness?"

"I don't have any... _specific_ problem with this?" Joy shrugged. "I mean well... I do have _one_ problem, but that's another story! If this makes Riley happy, then I'm all for it!"

Fear gazed at Sadness, a dim hope in his eyes.

"...I don't know why you're s-scared, Fear?" Sadness placed her index fingers together and stared at them. "I mean, all of this is kinda nice."

"Can'cha just feel the intimacy??" Libby threw her arms over the pair of them, causing Fear to flinch.

"Y-yeah, real intimate." Fear hopped away from Libby and scooted into Disgust.

"Personal SPACE BUBBLE!" The green emotion roared, sending Fear skywards with an uppercut. "UUGH! Why doesn't he get that?!"

"Sorry..." Fear hacked in the background, as he lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Anyway, back to what _I_ was saying!"

Riley sighed, and glanced downwards at her own body; chest flat as a parking space. No hips to speak of. Another sigh...

"Hey, hey, no biggie..." Jess gave her a warm smile. "You'll get there, don't worry!"

Riley blushed just a little. "H-how long-"

"Errm, I think I was about your age." Jess smiled. "Maybe a little older even, so you're ahead of me if anything!"

"R-really?" Riley was incredulous. "B-but I don't even-"

"Sshh..." Jess' finger one again silenced the little blonde. "Don't put yourself down like that. It only gives other people an excuse to."

"I-I was just being hon-" Riley began, before being shushed again.

"Just listen to teacher, okay?" Jess locked eyes with Riley. "...you have really pretty eyes."

"DO not!" Riley gasped, and instantly looked anywhere else.

"Do too." Jess propped Riley's head back up again.

"B-but wait!" Fear spluttered, grabbing at Anger's leg. "Mom said-"

"It's only FAIR!" Anger stomped on Fear's hand, and shut off the warning sirens.

Jess' two hands wrapped themselves around Riley. The blonde took in a sharp breath from the surprise of it all.

"A-ah-hah..." She stammered.

"Therrrre, see?" Jess smiled. "These changes, they'll... happen. You've just gotta be patient, okay Ri?"

"R-ri?" Riley mumbled, everything else Jess just said bypassing her completely.

"You don't like it?" Jess asked. "Oh! That reminds me! I said I'd give you an official nickname, didn't I?!"

"Y-yeah...?" Riley was apprehensive. She'd never been given a _good_ nickname before...

"Phew! Good thing I remembered!" Jess chuckled. "Well... I'll think of something good, I promise ya. And to make sure I keep the promise?"

Jess pursed her lips.

"AGH!" Fear shrieked, breaking free of his binds and dashing into the console. "Incoming!!"

"Watch it knucklehead, we gotta play it safe here!" Anger thumped Fear on the head. "Ya ready, Disgust?"

"Whenever you are." The green emotion was amiable for once. Two emotions worked together, gently leaning forwards with joysticks.

"Ohh, goshh..." Joy wrapped her arms around and violently shook a confused Sadness.

Meanwhile Libby's eyes were wide. _Will she really?_

Locked in physical embrace, the two teenagers were mere inches apart. Riley closed her eyes.


	17. Open Doors, Closed Minds

"M-mom...?"

A nervous Riley Andersen wrung her hands furiously.

"Yeah honey?" Her mother replied in turn. Plonking the laundry basket on the kitchen counter, she offered her daughter a warm smile.

"I umm... I've kinda got a, thing?" Riley stumbled over her words. "A-and it's an important thing. Like, super important. I-is dad around?"

"He's watching TV sweetie. Didn't you see him on the way past?" Her mother visibly balked. And as if on cue, her father's cheering voice erupted from the sitting room; "Woo-woop! Go team!"

"O-oh," Riley stammered. "I'll... go see dad too then?"

"Are we really doing this?" Fear flailed at the console. "W-what if they don't-"

"Yes, we're doing it." Anger prodded at a few buttons. "Whether the parents like it or not, we're tellin' 'em. _Today_."

"Oh good, that means we can take a nap first!" Fear moved to steer Riley around the other way.

"Ohhh, no ya don't!" Disgust shoved him away from the movement controls. "We have to get this outta the way sooner or later."

"And they deserve to know," Joy chipped in. "Even if they're not happy about it."

"And it's probably our last chance to tell them before they find out anyway..." Sadness shrugged gently.

"I suppose..." Fear conceded defeat. "Alright, you can put me down now, Anger."

"D-dad?" Riley quivered, and stood between her father and the TV.

"Hunh?" He paid half a moment's attention, before his eyes once again glassed over. "I'll take you to your thing today, don't worry honey."

"N-no no, wait a second dad." Riley crept closer to him, in a bid for more attention.

 _"Ugh! We're being ignored again..."_ Anger seethed. _"Are our feelings less important than a football game?"_

 _"Wait, IS that football?"_ Fear said. _"They're running way too much, and no one's wearing armour."_

 _"We're missing the POINT."_ Anger countered immediately. _"Alright, one more try..."_

"Daaaaaaaaad~" Riley bounced on the balls of her feet. "I-I need to tell you a thing?"

"Sure sure. Tell me the thing, sweetie," her dad waved at her dismissively.

At least until his wife coughed.

"Honey, our daughter has something she wishes to tell us. Care to _pay attention_?"

She stomped over to his armchair, and hit the 'pause' button on the remote.

"Nyah?!" He flustered, and bounced forwards from his seat. "What the?!"

"...oh."

Jill Andersen's arms were folded, and the TV remote was held securely in her right hand.

"Did I... do something wrong?" He asked, oblivious.

"Why," Anger banged his head against the console. "Is, dad, so, STUPID?"

"Oh, hush you. You're exactly the same when we're playing hockey." Disgust gave a derisive huff.

"But that's different. That's actually PLAYING the sport, and being awesome at it," Anger threw a giant hand at the screen to make his point. "Not just watching some dumb-"

"-doesn't matter!" Joy interrupted, jumping between the two. "C'mon guys, time to concentrate! This bit's important!"

"Alright..." Anger sighed, and Riley's emotions tuned back in.

"Wh-what was it you wanted to say, sweetie?" Her dad forced a smile, as his eyes darted between her and the TV.

"Well, I umm..." Riley began.

"If it's about the band thing, don't worry! I'll get you there!" Her father interrupted, before receiving a stare from his wife and recoiling instantly.

"Ugh. Why can't dads ever just shut up and listen?" Disgust rolled her eyes.

"Y-you see, dad..." Riley mumbled. Her gaze constantly shifted between her dad's, her mom's, and her feet. "This is really kinda important, s-so thanks, for paying attention.

"Anything for you, sweetie." Her father smiled. His phone buzzed however, and Riley flinched.

But he did nothing. Out of fear of his wife, or respect for his daughter, no one knew. But the phone remained unanswered.

"...okay." Riley exhaled. Jogging on the spot, the tween fanned herself with both hands. "It's umm... eheh, r-really big news!"

"Go on...?" Her dad's eye twitched.

"Sorry," Riley sighed. "It's just... _super_ hard to say!"

"Take your time, honey." Her mother smiled. "Your dad can _finish his game later_ , if need be."

Riley's dad let out a tiny whimper, however he kept his composure.

"C'mon, c'monnnn..." Fear adjusted the dials carefully. "We have to word this right, not just blurt it out!"

"W-well, the thing is, dad..." Riley began. "I umm, I... don't think I like boys very much."

"I don't blame you, honey," Jill smirked. "Most of them are idiots after all."

"I don't see the lie," Disgust smirked, watching as Fear flailed at the controls, and Anger resorted to simply punching the phrase prompter in a bid to 'fix' it.

"W-well, I dunno about that..." A little chuckle escaped Riley. "But yeah. I have more news!"

Her dad stopped reaching for the TV remote. "Y-You do?"

"Y-y-yeah..." Riley nodded, and her dad received another disapproving stare.

"Okay..." Riley swung her arms back and forth, working herself up. "I umm... whew! Eheh..."

"Ugh, can't we just do that override thing and force it out?" Anger groaned. "We've got a backlog already!"

"I told you already Anger, we don't want to just blurt it out!"

"It'd solve the problem..." Anger sighed.

"But if we just blurt it out, they might not hear us properly," Sadness reasoned. "A-and then we'd have to do it again..."

"Fine, fine..." Anger stopped prodding the prompter. "Just don't blame me when she gets overloaded."

"Ungh...!" Riley groaned. "D-dad! I need to tell you this thing!"

"And I'm listening, Riley."

Her dad continued to smile patiently.

"I..." Riley scrunched up her eyes.

"Almost, got it..." Fear muttered, and pushed the button to let her say it;

"I-I think I like girls!"

Her dad blanched. "You _think_ you do?"

"Uhh, y-yeah," Riley quivered. "No wait! I _know_ I do! I think I have a girlfriend, a-and I wanna marry her!"

"Whooa, whoa. Maybe we're getting carried away a bit here!" Fear plucked Anger's giant hands from the console.

"I don't see how," Anger narrowed his eyes. "What if we do wanna marry a girl?"

"Aren't we a bit young for that?!" Fear cried.

"It don't stop us wanting, does it?" Anger shrugged.

"I suppose..." Fear sighed.

"A-are you certain, sweetie?" Her dad's voice was hollow. "You wouldn't be able to have kids, or get married...?"

Riley blushed furiously. "I-I umm... I think-"

"Of course she can." Jill folded her arms. "What year are you living in? Girls can marry girls if they wanna, and girls don't need a boy to have kids anymore. She can adopt if needed!"

"But that's not a _real_ marriage, is it?" Dad's arms dropped, in full anticipation of his wife's glare.

"Get with the times, honey." She spoke. "So I'm guessing this girlfriend is that lovely Jess girl?"

"Umm..." Riley mumbled, and then nodded. "I-I think so, anyway?"

"Just make sure you're doing the right thing, okay honey?" Jill knelt down to look her daughter in the eyes. "I know you're pretty sure she's the one for you, but just in case. Be careful, okay?"

"S-so you're... not mad?" Riley winced.

"Not at all, honey." Jill smirked. "And thank you for telling us. _We_ are really grateful!"

"Thank you..." Riley gushed, and buried herself in her mother's embrace. "It was really hard to say..."

"I can imagine, sweetie," Jill chuckled, and ran a hand through her daughter's hair.

"Aaand that's a catastrophe averted!" Joy announced. "Good work, Fear! Didn't think ya had it in you!"

"Thank you, thank you..." Fear took a small bow. "Looks like things are gonna be a-okay! Whaddya think, guys?"

"Sure?" Anger shrugged. "Dad didn't look ecstatic though."

"Ohh, he'll see sense sooner or later!" Joy waved Anger's concern away. "What're your thoughts, Libby?"

"Huh?" The pink emotion took a step back. "Y'all are askin' my opinion?"

"Yes indeedy!" Joy said, much to the chagrin of Disgust. "You've seen this with other kids, right? Ones that are... different?"

"Joy!"

"Sorry! Unusual?"

_"Joy!!"_

"Ahh, you know what I mean!" Joy chuckled awkwardly.

"Weeelll..." the pink emotion placed a finger to her lip. "It's different every time, really. Some parents don't like it at all, and some are a little bit _too_ acceptin', if ya know what I mean. Your girl's an only child, so-"

" _Our_ girl." Joy corrected her with an elbow nudge and a wink.

"Our?" Libby's eyes opened wide. A genuine smile touched upon her face. "W-well, that's might sweet of ya, yellow! Why the sudden change?"

"Well, you've proven to me that you really do have Riley's best interests in mind," Joy was positively glowing. "And that's all it takes to be a part of the family here!"

"W-well that's just swell," Libby grinned. "Ah didn't think I'd be so welcome here..." she locked eyes with Disgust, and then Anger.

"You've made your mistakes, but you made up for them, and helped us learn from them." Anger grunted. "So you're okay in my book."

"You haven't hurt Riley," Disgust deadpanned. "So that's okay, or something..."

"Yeah, and you're doing a great job with the teaching!" Fear gave her a pat on the back. "I feel I know so much more about our girl now!"

Libby's eyes were shining. However she was forced to stagger back three paces when a bright flash of light engulfed her vision.

There was a quiet veering noise, and Sadness pulled a photograph out of the old camera she was holding.

"You've showed us that we're all important," she smiled gently, wafting the polaroid around like a fan. "A-and that's... really nice."

And five emotions surrounded Libby. For once, all five seemed happy for her to be here, and the pink emotion couldn't help but feel a little bit-

"Wait. Who's driving?" Joy realised.

"Ahh!" Fear cried, and there was a mad dash back to the console.

"I got it, I got it!" Anger cried, and pummelled a few buttons on the dash.

"Hmm, h-hmm..." Riley hummed to herself, as she re-read Jess' most recent letter. Her dad said he'd finish his game, and then take her. So she had about ten minutes to kill.

"Wait, we're reading this again?" Disgust raised an eyebrow.

"Well, why not?" Joy reasoned. "It's a really nice letter!"

"Ugh, she still hasn't learned to spell..." Disgust sighed.

"Yeah, cause that's important." Anger chuckled.

 _"Dearest Ri-Ri,_ " the letter wrote. _"I'm afraid I don't have anything to report on the nickname thing. You're really hard to nickname, you know?_

_I'll find one for you soon, I promise. Unless something boring like fluffle or Bassist works for you?_

_Speaking of Bassist, no, we don't really hate him. He's just fun to tease, because he reacts so great. He doesn't only play the bass, either. He can also play the fiddle, which is useful, because in our line of work, you need to be prepared to face the devil at all times._

_Oh, and that language he was singing in? Yeah, Japanees. He went on exchange over there a year or so ago, and hes pretty much flewent. It comes in useful with all the nerd songs he likes._

_Amber, she's a tough one. I think ive heard her ~~tak~~ talk... twice. Yeah, she don't talk often. Generally she just texts or points when she wants something, because she saves her voice for singing. That stuff's SUPER hard to sing. I can't do it!_

_Stevie... now he cant sing at all. But he can play any brass instrument you put in front of him, and he's really good at ~~hitting things~~ percussion. Also, if we need someone to rap, he can do that too. Bassist can't rhyme worth a damn, and I don't have the voice for it._

_...so yeah, thats us. Were a weird bunch huh?_

_Also, I wanna say thanks for those song suggestions the other day. It kinda feels like cheating, but when youve got someone on the inside, what's the harm in getting help from them? Its only fair!_

_I'm really hoping you'll like the song we're playing at your school on Saturday. It's nothin like anything youve heard from us before. We've all been practicing super hard for it!_

_You know, I've never met anyone quite like you, Riley. You're sweet, and kind, and innosent, and clearly made of maple syrup. Oh, and as for that kiss yesterday? I really-_ "

"Riiileeeeyyy!" Her dad's voice echoed up the stairs, and tore through her letter like crepe paper. "It's time to get going!"


	18. Chapter 18

"A-are you sure you're not mad... dad?"

"Oh, of _course_ not, sweetie..." Her father said. "It was just a bit of a surprise, that's all?"

"Mom didn't seem so surprised..." Riley mumbled

"Eheh, well... your mom's a lot more perceptive than me, honey," her dad chuckled. "But no matter who you like, remember that your daddy loves you, got it?"

"AGH, not the moustache! Get it away!" Anger and Disgust were in rare agreement, however Riley still giggled as she flailed her father's kisses away.

"Alright, alright..." Riley's dad laughed. "I get the picture, monkey. Why kiss gross old dad when there's that Jess girl?"

"Daaaad...?!" Riley blushed furiously. Memories of their last encounter resurfaced, and brought with them an unexpected heat. "Th-that's a different kind of kiss..."

"O-ho! Look at you, all confident!" Her dad grinned, and fist bumped her shoulder. "Atta girl. Be proud of yourself!"

"U-um..." Riley managed a tiny smile. "Are... are _you_ , proud of me, dad?"

Dad smirked. "Couldn't be prouder, sweetie. Not only did you have the guts to _tell us_ , but you stood your ground, and you even picked a good one!"

"A good one?" Riley frowned. "H-how do-"

"Well yeah, she's smart, funny, _and_ she plays the guitar!" Her dad reasoned. "Course, she's not as good as your old man..." He grinned, "but for a... how old is she?"

"Umm, fourteen."

"For a fourteen year old, she ain't half bad. Tell me, does she know Highway to Hell?"

Riley shrugged. "Probably? She knows lots of songs..."

"Well, find out for me huh? That can be your mission for the day."

"Ooh, what do I get if I win?" Riley asked.

"Takeout of _your choice_." Dad's eyebrows bounced. "Sound good?"

"Y-yeah!" Riley nodded fervently.

"Alrighty then!" Dad exclaimed. And the pair continued to stare out though the windscreen of the car.

"Y'know, I don't think this rain's gonna stop anytime soon."

"...yeah, probably not." Riley sighed. "Is there an umbrella-"

"Nooope!" Her dad forestalled. "There are no umbrellas within the confines of this car. Sorry honey, man rule. You'll have to brave it."

Rain continued to lash against the windows, like pebbles against the glass.

Riley shivered, as a timely flash of lightning illuminated their surroundings. "D-do I have to?"

"'fraid so, monkey." Her dad said. "But I tell you what..."

Riley frowned as her dad flailed about in the driver's seat.

"The hell's he doing?" Anger raised an eyebrow, while a smile came to Joy.

"Ohh, I see..." The yellow emotion grinned.

"Here ya go!"

And dad's oversized hoodie was pushed into her hands.

"Sorry if it smells of dad," he smiled. "Bit it should keep you a bit drier, huh?"

Riley nodded, and pulled on the bright red hoodie. "Thanks dad. I'll be good to it!"

"That's what I like to hear!" Dad replied. "Now, remember your mission?"

"Uh-huh?" Riley mumbled, one foot already out the door.

"That's good then!" Her dad raised his voice over the thudding rain. "Remember, if you fail, it's-"

-and the rest of his sentence was obscured by a rumble of thunder. Not wanting to stand out in the rain any longer than she had to, Riley just gave her dad a thumbs up - albeit with her hand obscured by the sleeve of her dad's hoodie - and dashed away into the school grounds. Her dad beeped the horn to signal his leaving, as more lightning flashed in the background.

"Good thing, too," Anger wiped his brow. "Imagine dad jumpin' about like an idiot in here?"

"Heyy, it'd be cute!" Joy playfully nudged Anger.

"And not getting struck by lightning is _enough_ of a relief, thank you!" Fear could finally breathe again.

"We've already got enough of dad here already..." Disgust wrinkled her nose. Riley could barely see out of the enormous hood, which almost reached her knees, and left her hands close to useless, but at least she was inside now. She could see Jess performing, and it would all be great, and-

*CRASH!!*

"Whuh?!" Riley flailed about amidst the oversized hoodie, as another roll of thunder rattles across the sky.

"Maybe... we shouldn't daydream out in the open." Joy let out a goofy chuckle.

"Good point, Joy," Anger mumbled, clearing Riley's daydream screen with a swipe of the hand. "Careful with the reactions, Fear!"

"Oww! Heyy, not fair!" Fear whined as Anger's giant hand met his head. "I thought the walls were caving in!"

"And how likely is that...?" Disgust scoffed at him.

"Hey, you get landslides every other minute worldwi-yi-yi-owww...!" Fear began, however Disgust pulling on his long nose forced him to stop.

"Not gonna happen. Okay Fear?"

"...okay." Fear gave Disgust a thumbs up. She let go of his nose, which snapped like elastic and sent the purple emotion flying. "Alright, let's just sit down already before all the good seats are taken!"

"A-and then Jess won't be able to see us..." Sadness piped up.

"Yeah, and we look really cute today, so we don't want that to happen!" Disgust slammed a fist down on the console in agreement with Sadness, surprising the blue emotion more than anyone else.

"Wow, you're keen, ain'cha?" Libby grinned. Disgust met her gaze, and even tried to smile. Being Disgust though...

"Whoa jeez, that's even scarier than your kill-smile." Anger balked.

"I'm trying, alright?!" Disgust hissed back at him.

"Aaaand _that's_ what's important!" Joy but in, before things could escalate. "Maybe we should get moving sometime soon?"

"...yeah, probably." Anger shrugged. "We've been standin' here like a sack of potatoes for a while now."

Even as Anger spoke, people kept stealing furtive glances at her. Having barely moved or even blinked in the past few minutes, the little girl in the big red hoodie was attracting all the wrong attention.

 _"Okay, let's see if we can ease this back in,"_ Anger was at the helm. _"Then the embarrassment will be mini-"_

"-maaaah!" Riley cried, arms flying everywhere as she tripped over her own shoelaces, and fell _like a sack of potatoes_ , taking the nearest girl down with her and creating the worst possible display of human dominoes.

"Ohh, gods..." Anger slapped his giant hand across his face in exasperation. "Well that could've gone better. Why don't we ever _tie_ those shoes?!"

"We do! They just come undone again!" Fear tried to explain his shortcoming.

"Well keep a better eye on it, okay?" Anger glared at the purple emotion.

He took in an enormous breath. "...right! Doing the thing, take three!"

"S-sorry!" Riley stammered, and helped the redheaded girl back to her feet. After kneeling down to quickly tangle her shoelaces together again, she took off down the hallway, and followed the crowds towards the main hall.

"Woooow..." Riley gasped, at the glitz and glamour on display. Everything seemed just so much more sparkly than normal. The drum kit on the main stage had _two_ kick thingies! Even the microphones were somehow fancy! They weren't broken or anything!

_"Good good, all of the safety precautions seem to have been met..."_

_"It's all kinda, tacky, isn't it?"_

_"I hope Jess will see us this far back..."_

_"And if she doesn't, we can wave!"_

_"If she still doesn't, we can ROAR!"_

_"...maybe not on the roaring thing. The dad hoodie will be enough!"_

Riley found herself a seat three rows back, with some dark haired boy on her left, and merciful emptiness on her right.

_"Ahh, the freedom of an end seat..."_

_"Yeah, until people start pushing past you."_

_"But that's okay, cause we're near the front!"_

_"Now let's just hope we don't have to wait forever..."_

And thankfully, Riley's impatience wasn't tested too far. After about ten minutes of shifting about awkwardly in her seat, a man she recognised as the headmaster of her school toddled onto the stage. A portly little guy, he always seemed to carry an air of stagnation about him. Words weren't even needed as the room slowly echoed away into a hushed silence.

"Thank you, everyone." He spoke, his voice low and clear. "Welcome to the first round of this year's Battle of the Bands. We have eight talented young groups, each presenting a school from the tri-county area, playing for you tonight. Your votes, and a panel of judges, will decide who goes through to the next round."

More awkward silence followed.

"Ahem," the headmaster cleared his throat again. "Anyway. I've talked enough. Without further ado, let us begin round one."

The portly headmaster bowed out to an explosion of sudden applause, where Riley clapped so hard her hands stung.

"Aww, c'mon already..." Anger sighed. "I ain't clapping all day. Where's Jess already?!"

"We have to at least pretendwe're interested in the other bands, Anger!" Joy rolled her eyes at him. "Look, here's the first one now!"

The first ragtag band of teenagers had made their way onto the stage during Riley's internal argument, and setup a basic set with one bass, one acoustic, and a singer with a tambourine. The tambourine wasn't needed alongside the drums, and while the guitarist was at least competent with their acoustic, it was safe to say that 'let them sniff pies' were not going to be band of the night.

"Go back to Wyoming, hippies!" Anger threw his favourite chair at the screen.

"Ohh, Anger. They're not that bad..." Joy tried to enthuse the red emotion. "Just a little... out of practice." She twitched, as the guitarist plucked a string too tightly, and unleashed a painful shriek over the amps.

"Well they're gone now," Anger said. "So let us _throw_ pies!"

 _Let Them Sniff Pies_ bowed out to polite applause, only to be replaced by a trio of mismatched colours.

"Ugh, they look like a rainbow threw up on them..." Disgust retched.

The simply named band, 'Snype', had a singer that also played bass, an under-confident drummer, and a lead who could at least play an electric guitar.

...but not all that well.

"Stop strangling chickens!" Anger screamed at them, as their lead guitarist attempted a really 80s solo. "Put 'em outta their misery!"

"Hnn... the poor chickens..." Sadness sighed, taking things a bit too literally.

But 'Snype' were soon finished, and the trio could at least leave with their dignity.

But then Riley's heart skipped a beat.

"OH, here we go, here we go, herewego herewego herewego!!!" Anger erupted, forcing a sizeable distance between himself and the other emotions.

"Anger, calm down!" Joy raised her hands disarmingly. "It's just...

Whoa."

And with her feet stomping on the floor, her eyes glowing, and her cheeks hurting, Riley's interest in this contest had finally been ignited.

"Uhh, hello there everyone," Jess spoke into the microphone. "We're ' _Insert Name Here_ ', and we'll be responsible for the next four and a half minutes of noise. Strap yourselves in, cause it'll be wild ride."

Jess scanned the audience with her eyes. Spotting one little blonde beaming up at her, complete with an oversized hoodie and everything, she took in a deep breath, and raised one hand into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there AO3. Another update here, and somewhat quickly too!
> 
> This was originally a longer chapter, but it got split down into two for the sake of consistency. I mean, 2k words a chapter is reasonable, huh?
> 
> As always, I'd like feedback, and I'll be cleaning it up at some point in the future.
> 
> Oh, also!
> 
> http://ghost-soda.deviantart.com/art/TRB-Libby-618250426
> 
> Please enjoy this wonderful Libby fanart, created by Galaxyspoon.
> 
> My fic has fanart! Life goal, check!


	19. Chapter 19

With a silver pick shining in her hand, and a forehead already shining with sweat, there was little to hide her obvious nerves. Clad almost entirely in black and spikes, with a _tauntingly_ exposed midriff, Jess looked poised and ready, but also nauseous.

"Oohh, this is gonna be GREAT!" Anger chuckled at the screen, rubbing his giant hands together with glee.

"One, two..." Jess counted to herself. "One two, one two three FOUR!"

And then the room was blown back by the sudden _explosion_ of sound!

Fingers stretching across the entire neck of her guitar, Jess fired off an aggressive concerto of bar chords. Unlike anything Riley had ever heard her play before, it was soon followed up by a timely, melancholic drumbeat courtesy of Stevie.

Amber soon joined in with high-pitched squeadles from her own guitar, _Weird. She's playing lead today,_ and while Bassist couldn't be heard over the other three, he at least looked busy, flicking away at his bass.

"Don't listen what your girlfriend says," Jess sang, her face far too serious for the lyrics. "She reads those magazines. That say you failed the test, you don't have what she needs~"

"Why isn't she smiling?" Fear frowned at the screen. "She's normally so happy and relaxed."

"Maybe it's just nerves?" Joy shrugged. "I mean, who wouldn't be nervous in front of a crowd this size? And we're here too!"

"But she's busking all the time, so that don't make sense..." Anger tapped large fingers across his chin. "Hmm..."

"I slither like a viper, and get you by the neck," Jess' voice lacked its usual lilt. "I know a thousand ways, to help you for-get, about her~"

"That chick can eat her hea-rt out."

Stevie suddenly upped the tempo on the drums, 'tac-atac, atac tac tac, tacataca'

"Love, biii~ites," came the crash of cymbals, "but so do I! So, do, I~"

"Love, bites!"

Another heavy riff rattled through the hall, followed by Amber's complementary wheadle.

"My lips are pale and vicious," Jess continued, and Riley heard Bassist on backing vocals this time. "You're foamin' at the mouth~"

"You've suffered in, the darkness, I'll *toink!* the pain right out!"

Jess shook her right hand. "-taste the reason, I'm nothin' like the rest,"

"I'll kiss you in a way, you'll never forget, about me~"

The slightest upturn came to Jess' lips, however it was erased almost instantly as another awkward note squeaked its way past. "-eat her *tink!* out~"

Amber hammered out several quick notes, and the chorus repeated, "Love, bii~iites,"

"Is it just me?" Fear scratched his head. "Or is she less... fluid than normal?"

"With how much she's sweating, she basically is fluid," Disgust swept her hair away, and prompted a few withering eye rolls.

"Well, we've never seen her on a big stage like this with an audience, have we?" Joy reasoned. "Maybe it's just the pressure?"

"Maybe we're making her screw up..." Sadness mumbled.

"I dunno about that, Sadness," Anger's gaze remained fixed. "But one thing's for sure-"

Another missed note toinked across the hall-

"She's struggling."

"So~o do, I~," Jess belted out a longer note, followed up by several hard hitting chords and a deep, gravelly sustain.

"It checks you in, and kicks you down, and chews you up, and spits you out," she continued, her voice back in full confidence now that she only had lyrics to worry about.

"It messes with your sanity, by twisting all your thoughts around."

Another series of rough chords rattled through, and suddenly the aggression was back.

"They say it's blind,

They say it waits,

But every time it seals your fate,

And now it's got you by the tail,

It won't let go, until you wail!"

Her hands were back in motion again, repeating what looked like a difficult chord alongside whatever madness Amber was achieving to her left.

"I was down, got up I said 'hey come on now, I've had enough!', an' I've felt pleasure without pain, my soul you'll never TAAAA~AA-AAME...!"

"Love, bii~iites, but so, do, I~I..." Jess' voice softened once again. Her skin was shining from the efforts, with her silver pick glinting against the floodlights. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her hair was matted and greasy.

But there was still plenty to go. Amber didn't miss a beat, and suddenly initiated a guitar solo.

"Hang on, Jess could handle that easy!" Fear said. "Why's the quiet girl doing it?"

"I told ya, Fear. She's having trouble," Anger muttered. "It ain't all that technical, but it's _intense_ , and she can't do both at once. I-I think, anyway."

"And what makes you such an expert?"

Disgust pouted.

"Ya don't need to be," Anger threw a giant hand at the screen. "She's in real trouble. It's obvious!"

But despite her worries, Riley found herself jigging along quietly to Jess' song. Far from her standard tastes, perhaps she was only enjoying it because of Jess herself?

Yeah, that'll be it.

"Love, bii~ites, but so do I, so do I~" Jess repeated her chorus once again, and the song was beginning to wrap up. 

"It ain't creative," Anger shrugged. "But damn, that energy."

"So, do, I~I, love, bii-iites," Jess pushed out the last few repetitions, "love bites, love BITES, love BII~II-III..."

"..."

There was a rushed crescendo of other instruments. Followed by silence.

"Wh, what the?!" Fear spluttered. "What just happened?!"

"Fear, calm down!" Anger yelled, wrenching the purple emotion off of his head. "She just ended fast, alright?!"

But the sight on screen had him less convinced. Her face white as a sheet, and her eyes staring, Jess clutched at her throat. Bassist wrapped an arm across her back, and she was gently led back off stage, all before the polite patter of applause could ripple throughout the room.

"...okay yeah, something's up." Anger gulped. "You're up, Fear."

"We gotta go find her!" Fear gasped at the controls. Riley burst from her seat, and scattered down the side of the hall.

"Wait _wait_ , what about the other bands?" Joy protested.

"Jess is more important!" Fear blanked her out, and rushed Riley from the room. More thunder rolled across the sky.

"But we can't just _leave_ , can we?!" Joy squeaked, despite herself. 

"Consider this an emergency," Anger was gruff. "Jess needs us now more than ever."

"And we're just gonna make sure she's okay." Disgust added.

"And if she is, we can go back and watch the others. So it's fine, don't worry." Sadness gave a little smile.

"...okay," Joy exhaled. "Wow, I dunno what came over me there. Of _course_ Jess is more important..."

And Riley continued to pick her way through the empty halls, as rain and wind lashed against the windows.

"Okay, backstage leads out here... doesn't it?" Fear asked no one in particular, as Riley navigated the school. "Jeez, all this thunder and lightning is scary!"

"Jess could be in trouble, and you're worried about the weather?" Anger balked at him. "C'mon Fear, priorities."

"Y-yeah, you're right," Fear nodded. Riley shivered, and continued on her way. Goosebumps prickled at her skin, _huh? Why? It's not cold, is it?_ , as Riley eventually found the door she was after her. 

And right in front of it, Jess' telltale rusty curls were in plain sight, even in the poor light.

"Ohh gods, she's okay!" Fear was all too vocal in his relief. "Let's go over to her and-"

"Wait a second." Joy stalled him. "Something's not right here. Where's the other hand members?"

"Maybe they wanted to give her some alone time?" Anger shrugged.

Riley crept a little bit closer, her hand outstretched.

"But she's not alone," Joy pointed out. _"Look."_

Riley squinted. As Jess continued to sob visibly, Riley couldn't help but notice the presence of another person.

"There, there, it's alright..." this other girl mumbled to her. "You'll be okay, I promise."

"Hunh? Who's this kid?" Anger gestured at the skinny ginger thing. "And why's she getting so close to OUR GIRL??"

"Maybe they're friends, or something?" Joy shrugged.

"But Jess doesn't have many friends. We'd have met her by now." Fear reasoned.

"Ohh, they're more than just friends," Anger growled. "... _look!_ "

Two skinny arms wrapped around Jess' shoulders, and the redheaded girl - maybe Riley's age, maybe a bit older? - held Jess tight.

And _kissed her. On the forehead._

Six emotions stared at the screen, unresponsive. _Did that really just happen?_

Riley's body was equally unresponsive. Seemingly unable to move, her mind replayed the last few moments, over and over again, in slow motion.

The redheaded girl wrapped her arms around Jess, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, and kissed her... _k-kissed... her_. The redheaded girl, _kissed_ , her girlfriend. Kissed.

And headquarters exploded.

"WHAT?!" Anger erupted. "What the HELL just happened?! That girl can't kiss Jess! She's ours!"

"Did we do something wrong?!" Fear flailed."

"She doesn't like us any more!" Sadness wailed.

"S-she's awful. I hate her!" Disgust stuttered out tears.

"Guys, guys!" Joy tried to calm the others. "C'mon, think for a second! There has to be another-"

But things were beyond help now. Memories tinkled into their chambers at a rate of knots, overloading it in mere seconds, and four emotions wrestled over the control panel, fighting over buttons and hammering on about every one their eight hands could access.

Libby kept her distance.

"Guys, QUIT IT!" Joy once again tried to take control. "Panicking about this won't help! There's another answer, I just know it!"

But it was all on deaf ears. The other four emotions continued to hammer down on any reachable button, memories persisted in clogging up the chambers, Libby kept herself uninvolved...

And Riley remained unresponsive.

There was an ominous cracking noise, and memory balls spilled out of the chambers by the hundreds, covering the floor of headquarters.

"Ugh, that is IT!" Joy exclaimed. Shoving her way around Fear, she lifted up a plastic hinge, and smashed her hand down on a huge red button beneath it. 

The lights went out, the console was shut off, and the other emotions were stopped in their tracks.

Joy stared down four pairs of panicked, starey eyes.

"...we need to discuss this!" She cried. Tears sparkling in her eyes, Joy thrust an arm at a table in the centre of headquarters. The others simply nodded back at her, and filed towards the table.

"And you?" Joy kicked a greyed-out memory ball out of the way.

"I'll... spectate," The pink emotion smiled awkwardly. "Make sure Riley don't do anythin' silly."

"...whatever." Joy sighed. She kicked a few more memories along the way, and sat herself down in one of the exactly five seats surrounding the table. Painful scratching and screeching accompanied as the other four emotions joined her.

"Okay..." Joy stressed. "We've got a big problem here, and we need to discuss it. Okay?"

But with her five emotions busy figuring out exactly what to do with this news, Riley herself was in a far less responsive state. 

Her eyes were empty. Her gaze was empty. With little more than a passing glance at Jess and her... _other_ , the little blonde found herself turning around, and ambling listlessly back down the hallways.

Her dad's red hoodie was soaked. Riley shivered. He asked her something as she sat in the car. Wasn't important.

The skies were dull and grey. The rain was still heavy. She couldn't see through the window.

Dad looked worried. Not important. He had Chinese food. Not hungry. Mom looked worried too. Not important.

The wet hoodie was heavy. On it stayed. Her bedroom was so dark. The walls, the decorations, the weather... all, just lifeless.

Riley sat, and watched the empty.

"Err, you guys?" Libby cleared her throat. "You might wanna do somethin' here."

Her voice fell on deaf ears.

"Well I believe we should be afraid right now," Fear stabbed a finger into the table. "Jess," three emotions winced. "S-she was like a safety net. And that net is _gone_ now. So who knows what kinda monsters are gonna eat us?!"

"Well, the monsters can have us," Disgust scowled. "Now that that little brat has taken... _her_ , away from us, is there any point anymore?"

"Oh, come on Disgust," Joy frowned at the green emotion. "Is it really that bad?"

Disgust shared half a glance with Joy, and then turned away with a huff, arms extremely folded.

"I umm... think Disgust is right," Sadness piped up. She polished her glasses, and made a little cough. "Sh-she was everything to us. From the first minute of the day, un-until the last, all we think about is... _Jess_."

Two emotions flinched.

"She's in more than half of the deliveries from the Train of Thought, and she's been in more Dream Movies than Bing Bong. S-so... so what else is there?"

"Ohh, Sadness...?" Joy let out a withered sigh. "We like lots of other things! Like cats, and hockey, a-and-"

"-and that's enough, Joy." Anger cut in. The red emotion stood up from his chair with a start.

"Anger...!" Joy frowned at him, however he heeded it none.

"When was the last time we did any hockey practice, huh?" Anger slapped his hand down on the table, and Joy could feel its hinges buckle. 

"Yeah, we like that stuff," Anger continued raging. "But we haven't even _thought_ about that crap since _she_ came into our life! Nothing else matters any more!!"

"Hey hey! Plenty of things matter!" Joy retorted. "Things like mom and dad! And school! And music! And-"

"Music?" Anger's eyes bolted still wider. He glanced at Riley's 'screen', "music was what got us into this mess in the FIRST place!"

"Huh? No it wasn't!" Joy argued. "It was that, hey what're you doing?"

"Firing us back up," Anger was back at the dashboard. "There's something we gotta take care of."

Riley blinked, and tore her vision away from that same spot on the floor. Her face was still unresponsive, however that was only until she found what she was looking for.

Lightning flashed.

"Anger, no..." Joy gasped. "No, don't do it Anger! It's not worth it!"

"We have to do it!" Anger thundered. "It's what caused this whole damn problem!"

"Anger no!" Joy bodily threw herself at Anger. "I can't let you do this!"

"Just try and stop me!" Anger knocked Joy away as if she were a paperweight, and launched his hand at the dashboard.

Riley's eyes narrowed, and she tightened her grip around the neck.

"No, Anger!" Joy had sprung back up, and once again leapt at him. "This won't solve anything!"

"It has to!" Anger flailed at Joy. "It's the only answer we got!"

"There's always another answer!" Joy cried. "Let's look for one!"

"I'm done looking!" Anger roared. He wrestled Joy from around his shoulders, and made another charge for the dashboard.

"Anger, no!" Joy shrieked.

"Don't do it, Anger!" Fear jumped in, and knocked the red emotion back. "We can fix this!"

"It's too far gone now!" Anger raged.

"Anger NO!" Joy shrieked again, and she once again latched herself onto him.

"Anger stop it! Don't be an idiot!" Disgust had one of his arms.

"Anger, plee-ee-ase!" Sadness wailed, wrapped around one leg.

Riley raised her arms into the air, and sniffled.

"Urrrghh!" Anger seethed, wrenching the combined weight of the other four emotions with him. "There, ain't, no, other... way!"

"Anger stop it! Stop it now!" Disgust pleaded. "There's no turning back from this!"

"I, **have to**!" Anger cried, and strained his body forwards.

They weren't enough.

"Arrrrggghhh!" Anger cried, and crushed his fist into the dashboard. Another bolt of lightning rippled across the sky, and Riley threw her strength to the ground, smashing it against the hard wooden floor. Jess' guitar wept with a pitiful twanging noise as strings were snapped loose, and the acoustic body was haemorrhaged.

Tears crashed to the floor as bits of broken guitar splintered across the room, and Anger fell to his knees, banging his fist against the dashboard.

The other four emotions were heaving in a pile on the floor behind him.

Well, four of the other _five_.

"Why..." Anger gasped, and glared at her. "Why didn't you try to _stop me?"_

Libby said nothing.

Riley threw the smashed up pieces of guitar into a corner. Rage still seething, she stared at her twitching, blistered hands.

And her vision quickly became blurry for tears.

Not even bothering to stem the flow, Riley crashed onto her bed, and curled up into a ball.

Riley Andersen sobbed beneath the bed sheets, as the thunder rumbled past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...whew!
> 
> Okay, lots of things here. First of all, don't hate me! This was planned almost from the beginning!
> 
> I'd like to think I've written this well. It's incorporating several different moods and styles, and I hope I haven't fucked up!
> 
> But yes, there is one more chapter. A lot of you can probably figure out what's gonna happen.
> 
> As always, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Did I catch you out? 
> 
> Stay tuned, for the final chapter.


	20. Chapter 20

_"Hey Ri-Ri, how a-_

_I don't think I saw you-_  
_Is everything okay? Bas-_  
_leaving early, and-_  
_Worried about you._  
_I overdid it huh? Gues-_  
_couldn't take it, and-_  
_cords. But hey, four-_  
_nothing to be asham-_  
_Wanna meet up somet-_  
_We'll jam so good a-_  
_Miss you alrea-_

_Love of lots, Je-"_

_"Hey Riley Ri. You've been really q-_  
_lately. Havent heard a thing fro-_  
_since the last letter you sent_  
_and I'm a little bit worrie-_  
_something wrong? Your_  
_me, are you? Write m-_  
_okay? Your still my-_

_Toodles, Jes-"_

_"MISS R-_

_112 A-_

_SAN FR-_

_9416-"_

It was cold. It was dark. The world was grey. The world was empty.

Riley curled up under her bed sheets. Her eyes were dry and heavy. Her wastebasket was full of paper balls. Her mother had removed the offending instrument.

The curtains hadn't been opened for a while. The dinner on her bedside table had been cold for ages. She didn't need a shower.

Her lips were dry. Her throat was raw. Her hands were bruised. Her skin was pale and blotchy. Nothing mattered any more.

"Ugghhh..." Anger sighed. "Just how long are we gonna be like this?"

"Until the brain workers can figure out what's wrong, I guess..." Fear shrugged.

"But it's been _days..._ " Anger groaned. "There's gotta be somethin' better to do than just sit here?"

"We've done all we can, Anger," Joy spoke into her arms. "Headquarters is clean again, and Sadness did Dream Duty last night."

"And the night before..." Fear wheezed.

"And the one before that," Disgust moaned.

"Aaand the one bef-"

"Alright, I got it," Anger waved a hand around impatiently. "But we can't just sit around forever... can we?"

He plucked at a couple of buttons on the dashboard. To no one's surprise, nothing happened. Anger let out another withering sigh. "Least it's no longer smashed..."

"Small victories?" Joy made the smallest of shrugs.

"Yeah, but now we can't blame him for breaking it." Disgust tossed her hair to one side.

Anger gave her a sour look. "Not fair, Disgust. That woulda probably been avoided if _she_ had done somethin'."

A stubby red index finger was pointed at Libby, who was pointedly minding her own business in the corner.

"Or if the other one hadn't..." Fear chipped in, and Anger's arms started shaking.

"BUT!" Joy forestalled. "That's all water under the bridge now. So don't start anything. Please?"

"Ohhhh....!" Anger recoiled. But it soon dissolved into another sigh. "Ughh, what's the point? Arguin' won't solve anything."

Anger stomped back to his chair, and buried his face in the _puberty picayune_.

"Oh, so that's how you're gonna help?" Disgust huffed. "Disappear into your damn newspaper and ignore us? You'll be asking for help with the damn crosswords any moment now, I tell-"

"Would you _rather_ I started arguing?" Anger growled through his paper.

"No, I'd rather we _did_ something!" Disgust flailed. "We can't just sit here forever! Something has to-"

The green emotion was stopped mid-sentence however, as Riley's bedroom door rattled open.

"Hold the phone," Fear said. "Mom's here."

"Ohh, what is it _this_ time?" Anger sighed, as Mom belt down beside the bed. She was way too smiley for this time of the... maybe not.

"Hi honey, are you okay?" She kept her voice cheery and disarming. "Wanting to get up today? School's missing you."

"Don't care," Riley murmured to her knees, as Fear had a meltdown internally, _'we're missing school?! WE'RE MISSING SCHOOL!!!'_

"See, _you_ might not care Riley, but we do." Mom's voice suddenly stiffened. "As your parents, it's our duty to make sure you get the best possible start in life. Now I'm not sure what went on between that Jess girl and yourself,"

Riley visibly cringed,

"but you can't just quit life because of it. After all, you don't even know what happened yourself, do you? Not _really_?"

"We know _exactly_ what happened, Mom." Anger seethed. "Tell us what we don't know? Why I'll-"

"Whoa Anger, calm it!" Joy intervened. "We don't wanna sass Mom, got it?"

"What's the matter? It's not like she'll know!" Anger gestured to the screen, where Mom was in full focus now.

"Still, it's not something we wanna make a habit of..." Joy sighed.

All the while, Riley had remained unresponsive.

"Okay then, if that's the way you wanna play it," Mom smirked. "Riley, you've had ample time to mourn, and now it's time to face the world again."

Riley recoiled as her curtains splashed open, and blinding light flooded into the room.

"So you will get up, get a _shower_ , and get, your, butt, to school, or so help me, I will wear my duck pyjamas, and walk you to your first class. How's that sound?"

And for the first time in days, alarm bells rang in Riley's head.

"Not the DUCK PYJAMAS?" Fear and Disgust were in rare accordance.

"We'll be the laughing stock of the whole school!" Disgust continued for him, and began assaulting the console. "C'mon dammit, move!"

"We've tried every button on that console already, Disgust...!" Joy tried to tug the green emotion away. "It's not gonna work, so let's just-"

"AGH!" Disgust pummelled the buttons, and Headquarters shook violently as Riley reared up!

"Now that's more like it," Mom's voice echoed into Headquarters. "Now, get a shower. Breakfast will be waiting for you downstairs, alright monkey?"

Mom flounced happily out of the room, leaving four emotions stunned.

"Hang on..." Fear dared breathe. "W-we can still control Riley?! How'd you do it, Disgust?!"

"I don't... I don't know exactly..." Disgust wobbled. "Umm..."

"She ain't broken." Came a voice from the corner. Four emotions turned to face Libby, their gazes ranging from disdained to loathing.

"She's just... resistant," Libby explained. "Y'all got lucky there. Maybe use more force?"

"Why couldn't you tell us this earlier?!" Fear spluttered. "We could've gotten back on track so much quicker!"

"Maybe she wouldn' letcha til now," Libby shrugged airily, and gave Fear a knowing stare.

"Ugh, that don't matter. Just leave her alone Fear. We got what we wanted," Anger dismissed Libby entirely. "You want more force? You GOT more force!"

Anger buried his hand in the console once again, and Riley forced a shaky leg forwards, stumbling towards the bathroom.

Hair brushed, teeth brushed, cleanly showered, Riley was on her way back to school. Things were looking up!

"You... shouldn't text and drive, Mom." She paid barely enough attention.

"Ohh, it's fiiine, we're in traffic!" Mom laughed it off, sending her text and putting the phone away again. "See? No one's dead."

"I guess..." Riley mumbled.

"Why're we questioning Mom again?" Fear gasped, all this extra effort proving tough on him.

"Hey, we're trying!" Joy pounded the keys. "It's not easy controlling her like this!"

"I'll say..." Disgust wheezed. "How do you... do this all day... Anger?"

"Ohh, just practice." The red emotion grinned. "Anyone think we should wake up Sadness? We probably want all of us here for this.

"Ermm..." Four emotions exchanged looks. The job was already hard enough, but sacrificing someone for a potentially long time to wake up Sadness... was that wise?

"I-I'll do it."

And four emotions frowned at Libby.

"If... If y'all're stuck?" She lowered her hand again. "I'll be quick as I can, okay? I just wan' help."

A tacit agreement was grunted between the other four.

"Quick as you can!" Joy nodded, and turned her attention immediately back to the screen, where Mom was pulling up outside Riley's school.

"Have a great day, sweetie!" Mom called to Riley out of the window as she shuffled her way towards the school gates. Tall and ominous as always...

"Should... someone go check on Libby?" Fear muttered, a bead of sweat slippering down his temple.

"The only reason we sent her is cause we need all hands on deck right now," Anger grunted. He glanced over his shoulder. "So we'll have to try and trust her."

_meanwhile..._

*knock knock naknock knock!*

Libby rapped her knuckles against Sadness' floral door. "Hey, y'in there lil' blue?"

There was no answer.

"Aww c'mon, ya just gotta be," she cooed through the keyhole. "Y'all gotta be awake for this important thiiiing..."

It was typical that only Sadness ever locked her door. Even Fear didn't. Although maybe that was a good thing. Fear alone in his room all the time was only going to spell dis-

*click!*

"Ooh!" Libny cries, bouncing on her feet as Sadness' many locks and bolts were undone.

"What do you want...?" She swallowed down a yawn, glaring at the pink blur through the crack in the door. "Haven't you hurt us enough already?"

"Aw c'mon, you don't still think I knew that was gon' happen, did y-" Libby immediately fired up the defensive, however it was only met with a slammed door to the face.

"Go away, let me sleep..." Sadness muffled voice yawned out.

"Aw hey, c'mon, the other guys need ya blue!" Libby pawed at the door. "I ain't foolin' this's important!"

Silence.

Libby fell to her knees. "C'mon, lil' blue, you're m'only hope. I don't care what'cha think of me, a'righ'? But yer girl needs ya, and if I can't even do this one thing ta help, then I might as well jus-"

"Go?"

"Yeah, that." Libby sobbed. However, that voice was awful clear this time. She looked up again to find Sadness outside of her room, dishevelled but fully dressed, and ready to go.

"Y-yeah, go." The pink emotion managed a grin. "G'wan blue. Yer girl needs-"

Sadness extended a hand; "Our girl needs _us_."

_Back at Headquarters..._

"This... is hard work!" An embattled Fear deflated. "Remind me never to mock you for this, Anger."

"Whuh?" The red emotion grunted. "You have done? _You_ , of all-"

"Whoawhoawhoa, I never said I _had_!" Fear flailed a defence. "I just meant that, if I ever umm, uhh..."

"Calm it Fear, it's alright," Anger slapped him on the back, almost choking the purple emotion. "We've got more important things to worry about, it seems."

"We... have?" Fear sputtered. "What is that, some sorta gathering?"

"Yeah, in the main hall. Maybe an assembly?" Disgust pursed her lips.

" _Another_ one?" Anger groaned. "The last one was already bad enough. Let's get outta h-"

"No wait Anger! We can't just go breaking school rules!" Both Fear and Joy jumped in between him and the console. "The whole school's here, so it _must_ be important!"

Anger exchanged a look with the other three available emotions. Even Disgust looked invested.

"Alright, alright..." Anger put his favourite chair down again. "But this better be the best thing ever."

Sadness waddled onto the scene as a relative stranger grabbed Riley's hand. _"C'mon Riley! Let's get the good seats!"_

"Who's... that?" The blue emotion yawned. "Where are we? Is this a daydream-m-m?"

"Err, that's the girl from Math isn't it?" Fear narrowed his eyes. "I believe the other kids call her Boo?"

"Weird kinda nickname," Anger frowned. "Anyway. We're doin' better Sadness. We found out that gettin' mad makes her move... a little."

"O-oh..." Sadness murmured. "Does that mean you're driving, Anger?"

"I... think it's like some kinda group effort, really," Anger shrugged. "Like, we all gotta coordinate buttons at once just to get her to do basic stuff, and-"

But Anger's explanation was drowned out as the school's principal stepped out onto the stage again. Riley was immured on all sides by strangely enthusiastic classmates, she couldn't help but feel a bit trapped, if she was honest.

"Why's everyone so pally pally today?" Anger popped an eyebrow. "We don't even know the names of half these people."

"Well, it looks like there might not be many seats left," Joy hammered some buttons to have Riley look around. "If any at all. Look, people are even standing!"

"What could be this important?" Five confused emotions echoed.

"Maybe it's-" Libby began, however stern looks from both Anger and Disgust shot her down.

"She's just trying to help, Anger..." Sadness placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She's still on my naughty list," Anger grimaced. "Sorry Sadness, but I can't trust her. Not after last time."

"But she didn't-"

"Anyway!" Anger talked over Sadness. "Thing's starting! I don't mind if you stand there, _pink_ , but don't try any funny stuff. Got it?"

It was an improvement from the corner at least.

"...got it." Libby shrugged.

"Good." Anger deadpanned, just as the principal's speech began to wrap up.

"-and we are pleased to announce that our high school has made it to the finals!" He attempted to inject some enthusiasm into his typical drone.

Riley winced at the mention. There was only one thing that that could be about...

"So to celebrate this, we have a very gifts young musician to play for us."

"No..." Anger shook his head in disbelief.

"I would urge you all to give her a chance," the principal smiled, and stepped down from the stage.

The big red curtain fluttered back, and the red flags shot back up again.

"H-hello there everyone," her unfamiliar voice croaked. She twiddled the knobs of a very familiar guitar, however.

"WHAT?" Anger exploded. "She's raiding our trash now?! That's it, we're getting outta here!"

Anger's fists crashed into the console, and Riley stood up abruptly.

"What's wrong, Riley?" The girl to her left glanced up at her.

"Quick quick, someone make up an excuse!" Anger pleaded.

"Err, umm..." Fear pounded at some keys.

"I just... have to go to the bathroom," Riley muttered to her feet, as a strangely awed silence wafted through the room.

"Oh c'mon guys, the principal said we should give her a chance..." Joy gestured towards the screen.

"A chance to what? To hurt us again?" Disgust huffed. "She's already stalking us!"

"Noo, I just really think we should-" Joy began, however Anger realised that even button hammering wasn't working any more.

"Oh, that's it..." Anger growled. "Fear! C'mere!"

"Hunh?"

"Hey, wait a minute!"

"Quit it Anger?!"

"OW!"

And Riley shuffled across other begrudging schoolmates, as Fear was bodily smashed into the console, courtesy of Anger.

"Riley? What're you-"

"Ow! Heyy, careful!"

Meanwhile, a certain redhead was speaking.

"I can imagine you're all a bit confused," she cleared her throat. "What with some random chick on stage, with a busted guitar and even busted...er voice,"

"Busted voice?" Joy frowned. "Wait a second..."

"Dammit, Fear, why, ain't, this, workin'?!" Anger had buried the purple emotion's face into the console for the hundredth time.

"How should I know...?" Fear wheezed.

"Well maybe I should-" Anger threw Fear aside, and grabbed his chair, only to walk right into Joy.

"Ow!"

"Gagh?!" Anger gasped. "S-sorry Joy! Didn't seeya there!"

"Well maybe you oughta pay more attention," Joy clicked her tongue.

"Anyway, can ya move?" Anger asked of her. "I need to smash this thing, and-"

"No you won't, Anger," Joy raised two hands defensively. "You're gonna put that down, and we're gonna hear her out, okay?"

"Why?! What has she done to deserve that?!" Anger clenched a fist.

"Because everyone deserves a chance, Anger." Joy turned to face the screen. "Maybe this is hers."

"B-but!" Anger percolated. "But I had the chair ready and every- WAAaaaaaoohhhhh!"

Anger's chair crashed to the ground, and Joy signalled for quiet. Riley frowned, and folded her arms, but listened all the same.

And the other students shuffled down a seat to accommodate her.

"I can bet you're thinking 'who's this kid? She doesn't even go here!'," Jess carried on, prompting a polite ripple of laughter from the crowds. "And to be honest, I'm not too sure myself. Doc says my singing days are over, on account of this vocal cord... something or other."

"Eugh, she's just rambling!" Anger fumed. " _Now_ can we get outta here?!"

Riley was forced to her feet again, despite Joy's protests.

"But I have to," Jess half-smiled, staring downwards. "N-now, this'll mean nothing to most of you guys, but I was really proud of my singing. It stopped me from feeling stupid in class, and I met so many great people through it."

Joy, Sadness and Fear were all looking hopeful.

"One person in particular," Jess croaked. "She fell into my life right in the middle of a song, so I knew there had to be something special about her. A-and I'm not one for fate and all that crap,"

Anger softened.

"But a guy once said you should never walk away in the middle of a song, and I...

 _I don't think our song's over just yet._ "

"Oh gods..." Disgust drawled. "Don't tell me she's gonna s-"

"SSHHH!" Four emotions shushed her, and Disgust resigned herself to a mortified silence.

"S-so if you'll have me," Jess took in a breath. "I'd... I'd like to play you this new song I just wrote. It's nothing special, but it's for someone real special, so...."

And a pin could've dropped.

 _"S-she's so precious, like a flow-w-wer,"_ Jess rasped, as a flash of yellow blitzed across Riley's vision. _"She's so wild, and wild, but innocent..."_

Her voice was scratchy and strained, however Riley could hear them crystal clear despite the room's acoustics.

 _"Perfect prayer, in a desperate hour,"_ Jess continued to pull a tune out of the broken guitar, _"she is ev'rything, beautiful, and different."_

"Okay, the words are kinda pretty..." Anger sighed.

"Kinda?" Joy smirked. "It's about _us_ , Anger! C'mon, get with the program!"

"What makes you so sure?" Disgust popped an eyebrow.

"It's a thing I just know and that's that thing," Joy dodged, and began swaying to Jess' soft chords.

 _-you can't fence that in, oh yeah-heh, it's like holding back the win-ind,_  
"She left her heart, and soul, right in your ha-ands. You sold her every dream, then you crushed her, plans,

A short interlude had the telltale wheedles from an electric guitar emerge from... somewhere, and a tiny smile tugged at Jess' lips.

_"W-what made you think, you could take a life?"_

Riley gasped, as her vision flashed purple.

_"And just push it, push it, around?"_

And Riley chuckled awkwardly. Reacted a bit soon there...

Wait, reacted?

"Hang on, what happened there?" Fear scratched his head. "Joyyy...? The console's lighting up?!?"

"It is?!" Joy spluttered, almost bowling Fear over in her charge. "Ohh _goshh_ , it is! Something's working!"

"We can react again!" Fear celebrated, and pushed a few buttons. Riley's hands leapt to her mouth, and she quivered at Jess' words.

"Whoa whoa, careful Fear!" Joy chided him gently. "I know you're excited, but we don't wanna give the wrong impression!"

"I-I think were okay there though," Sadness pitched in, as Jess trilled out another chorus. "Because she said something about breaking someone. That's scary, right?"

Fear nodded vigorously, and Joy smiled, "alllrighty then..."

Jess' song quietened.

 _"It took a while, for her to figure out, she was wronged,"_ she barely even whispered.

_"When she did, she was,_

_long, gone,_

_long,_

_gone..."_

A streak of blue effervesced across Riley's screen, and more buttons lit up on the dashboard. Joy gave her the nod, and Sadness drove for a moment.

Riley gulped, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. Guilty bile boiled in the pit of her stomach. But as the electric rejoined the acoustic, she smiled again.

Maybe she had been a bit rash. Maybe Jess did deserve a chance to explain herself.

Maybe she did screw up... red lights blitzed across headquarters, and Rilry ground her teeth, but whatever the reason, she must've had one. Why else would she be doing this?

"Alright, we can forgive her..." Disgust deflated. "B-but not that brat she was with! She's getting-"

Headquarters glowed green for a split second, and suddenly the console was fully functional again!

 _"Ohh, nobody's gonna love me like she did,"_ Jess' voice amped up.

Riley could feel her heartbeat in her throat.

_"And she loved me, she loved me, gods please, just let her know,_

_I'm sorr-y!_

_I'm sorry, sorry, sorry **Riley!**_ "

He's exploded within her as hundreds of eyes focused _on_ her, and a tiny squeak escaped her deaths.

 _"Yeah, I'm beggin' you please,"_ Jess' guitar was completely drowned out by the electric now. "Beggin' you'll come back, to, me,"

And with an upturn of the lips, Jess played her way out alongside the other instruments; and electric, a rhythm, and drums. The others there died down, and Jess looked up to see a little blonde standing in the aisle down the middle of the hall.

Tears sparkled down her cheeks. Applause rippled.

"S-so..." Jess cleared her throat. "A-am I forgiven, Ri-Ri?"

Riley Andersen fidgeted in the middle of the floor. Stuck awkwardly in the division between columns of chairs, each with a pair of judgy, starey eyes watching her every move, the little blonde was understandably nervous.

Her foot shuffled forwards, just a little bit.

And then back again.

"What's going on? Why aren't we moving?" Fear prodded at the console.

"Because we're not sure," Joy answered simply. Fear met her gaze, to find her and Anger on one side of the console, and Sadness and Disgust at the other.

"S-so you... you can't decide?" Fear dabbed at his forehead with a hanky he'd pulled from nowhere.

Anger shook his head. "We're tied. Joy and I think she she deserves another chance,"

"-while _me_ and Sadness don't," Disgust announced proudly. "After all, she's obviously just toying with us."

"B-but what about-" Sadness spoke up, however-

"shush Sadness. You're agreeing with me. Just leave it, at that."

"Oh, umm..." Sadness backed off again, and resumed staring at her hands.

"So it's up to you, Fear." Joy offered him a small smile. "Do we take that chance?"

And Fear instantly broke out in sweats. Of all the decisions they could've been torn on, it has to be this one?! Maybe the most important one in all of Riley's twelve years?!

Fear wiped a visible cascade of sweat from his brow, and took in a deep breath. "R-right! Let's review this... p-properly! We'll make an in-f-formed decision on this!"

"Y'all might wan' make it quick," Libby added her two cents. "Those people ain't gonna wait forever."

And Riley continued to quiver in the middle of the hall. Jess simply remained where she was, patient and smiling.

 _"Look, she screwed up, but she's human."_ Riley frowned. _"One more chance won't hurt, will it?"_

 _"What, so we can get bitten again?"_ She shuffled back a couple inches.

 _"But she wrote me a song!_ Riley's eyes flickered. _"You don't just do that... right?"_

 _"You do if it gets you what you want. That way you stay in control."_ She wrung her hands furiously.

Ominous whispering began to rumble throughout the room. If Riley was nervous before, she must've been a wreck now. Sweat was streaming from her forehead. Her skin was.clammy literally everywhere. Her stomach was in knots. And she could barely see for all the fog in her brain.

And yet, Jess remained. Clear as a painting, cool as a cucumber.

"What's she so smug about?" Disgust popped an eyebrow.

"Maybe she just-" Sadness began, only to once again get stifled by the green emotion. "Hush, Sadness. She's only going to hurt us, and you know that."

"B-but what if she doesn-" Sadness protested, however Disgust clapped two hands over her mouth to silence her once and for all.

"C'mon Fear, make a decision already!" Disgust snapped, wrestling with Sadness. "Don't take such a stupid risk!"

Fear gulped. Was it such a stupid risk? Disgust was always the one taunting Fear, mocking him, belittling him...

But did she have a point? Was Jess only going to hurt them too? She went to the effort of writing a song, sure, but what if that was all just a ploy to get Riley back. And then break her heart again?

It was all just too overstimulating right now...

"L-Libby...?" Fear gulped, as the others started dissolving into arguments. "What do... What do you think?"

"Sorry stretch. I can't influence this one." The pink emotion tilted her head to one side.

"Aww c'mon..." Fear groaned. "A clue? A hunt? Something?!"

"Don't listen to her, Fear..." Anger rolled his eyes. "She don't care about Riley at all."

"Yeah, she just wants to ruin things for all of us!" Disgust scathed. Sadness tried to babble something, however Disgust still had her suppressed. "Quiet _down_ , Sadness! You're not helping!"

Meanwhile, Riley hadn't moved. And the whisperings were only growing louder.

"Now are you gonna make a decision here, Fear?" Disgust demanded. "Or am I gonna make it for you?"

"But she doesn't want to hurt us!" Sadness blurted out, finally breaking free of Disgust's grasp. "She only wants to-"

"NO, Sadness! We can't risk it!" Disgust dogpiled her. "We can't get hurt like that again!"

"But who says we will?!" Anger joined in. "She seems pretty damn genuine up there, with her busted voice and everything!!"

"But they always do!" Disgust scorned right back. "That's how they reel you in! That's how-"

"STOP!"

Silence.

Shocked at his own outburst, Fear lowered his hands back down again.

"I've heard enough you guys. How can we make an impartial decision if we-"

Libby whispered into his ear;

_"The heart knows, what it wants. The heart, always knows."_

"...right!" Fear raised a shaky hand. "The head's confused, so we're asking the heart! Got it?!"

"But the heart's biased!" Disgust complained. "How are we gonna get an impar-"

Disgust ground to a stop in the middle of her own sentence. "How the hell are we even gonna ask the heart?"

And what little authority Fear had, eroded.

"I... I don't know," he lowered his shaly hand. "I was j-just going by-"

And Libby whispered again.

"W-w-we will all, take control together!" Fear announced again. "All... all at the same time!"

Disgust frowned. "What good will that do?"

"Just do it!" Fear barked at her, and she recoiled. "We-we'll never get anywhere if we just argue like this! So let's let the heart decide! After all, a wish-a wish if what your heart ma-"

Libby nudged him.

"O-oh yeah, sorry." He chuckled.

With a clearing of the throat, he straightened himself up. "Alright, i-is everyone ready?"

Five emotions held their hands over the console.

"On three, okay?" Fear stuttered. "A-and that means one two THREE, not one two three GO, o-okay?"

"Just get on with it!" Disgust shrieked at him.

"O-okay..." Fear stammered. With another deep breath, he sized up the other emotions, and counted;

"One,"

"Two,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, and another cliffhanger!
> 
> Sorry guys, but this was getting a bit too long, and the thing was lagging because phone. So the finale will be in a little epilogue. It won't take long for that one to come out; the difficult part's over.
> 
> I plan to clean this up at a later date, but this is what I've got for now. Yay?
> 
> Let us know what you think, huh? What'll happen, good or bad, etc.
> 
> Anyway, over and out. I'll seeya soon. :)


	21. Epilogue: Listen to the Heart

...three!"

Five hands were simultaneously slammed down on the console. The lights flickered at Headquarters, followed by a bizarre sequence of computer-like noises, and then darkness.

The light of the screen was all that was keeping Headquarters illuminated now.

"I-It's out of our hands," Fear gulped.

Occasional electrical pulses continued to surge throughout the room, however a steady thumping took precedence over anything else.

Riley sobbed, just once. Not even thinking, she dashed forwards, as if her feet were acting independently. Her heart pounding in her ears, the little blonde scampered up the stairs to the podium, and bodily _threw_ herself!

"Oh, Gods...!" Jess rasped, catching the girl just in time to stop her faceplanting the ground. "Ohh, you crazy goose!"

"I'm so sorry!" Riley burbled, her voice thick and fast as she sobbed into Jess' shoulder. "I was mad at you, but I don't think I should've been, but-but I saw you with some other girl, a-and I-"

"Other girl?" Jess forestalled her.

That was an odd response. She sounded just as clueless.

"Mhmm!" Riley nodded vigorously. "S-she was little, and had red hair, a-and she... she _kis_ -"

"Kissed me?" Jess smirked. "Little redhead, about yea high?"

Riley nodded again. The heat in her stomach was close to unbearable.

"Ohh, you silly thing...!" Jess hugged her ever tighter. "You mean my sister Katie?"

"Sister...?" Riley mumbled. The guilt was starting to churn, and the nausea had begun to rise.

"Yeah, see?" Jess raised an arm. Riley dared follow it, only to see her pointing out a telltale flash of crimson in the crowds. The flash of crimson waved up them bashfully, and left Riley no less red faced.

"Ohhh...!" Riley withdrew back into Jess' chest, before letting out another loud sob.

"Ohh, come here you..." Jess wrapped her arms around Riley's skinny frame. "I mean, I love her differently, but I'm not _that_ adventurous!"

Riley couldn't help a slight chuckle. "I...I'd hope not."

Jess twirled her fingers through Riley's hair.

"Besides," the older girl smiled down at her. "It's the wrong kinda love."

Riley's eyes bolted open.

"M-hmm!" Jess carried on. "Y'see Ri-Ri, this is the kinda love that isn't between family members or whatever. I'm no white knight or whatever, and this sure as hell ain't no fairy tail, but I can get a horse if you really want one?"

Riley spluttered out more laughter.

"But ever since you fell into my life, I knew that you were in the right place at the right time. Stuff like that, doesn't happen by accident. And you know what, Ri?"

"Y-yeah?" Riley met her gaze.

Jess wiped Riley's eyes.

"We've still got our song to finish," Jess grinned.

And the two inched closer.

Arms linked around Jess' back, Riley looked up to the older girl, eyes gleaming. And right there, in front of a buttload of complete strangers, their lips met at last. The soft pressure emanated a comfortable warmth from deep within, which melted through Riley's system, and answered questions she didn't even have yet.

Everything felt right.

Time could've dropped right now, and she would've have minded.

But applause and even cheering erupted from the crowd of complete strangers, and the two girls just remained where they were. After all, there was nowhere better.

 

* * *

_meanwhile..._

"Alright, go team!" Fear applauded their efforts, "I think we can file this one under BIG success!"

"Ohh, I'm so glad that gamble paid off!" Joy exclaimed. "Good work Fear, good wor-"

But Joy's praise was cut short by an equally strident fanfare from the short term memory chambers.

It left the entirely of Headquarters glowing as it tinked across the relevant tubes.

"What... the?" Anger narrowed his eyes.

"Well it's not all that surprising," Fear scratched his head. "But what _colour_ is it? Who's responsible for it?!"

"All y'all." Came Libby's blunt reply. Several confused expressions met her gaze, and she simply folded her arms.

"Y'all contributed, so y'all get the memory," she shrugged. "S'that simple, guys."

"B-but why's it _white_?" Disgust frowned.

"Science!" Libby flailed. "Either way, go see what it did!"

"What it did...?" Five emotions parroted. Joy beckoned everyone over to the window, where each of them began pointing excitedly at the personality islands!

"Look, Lady and the Amp's changed!" Joy cried.

What was originally an angel handing a guitar to a blonde worshipper had changed to that same angel and blonde sharing a bench, and holding the guitar between them, with a clichéd heart made out of spikes and microphones and things.

"So it... merged with love island?" Fear surmised.

"Looks like!" Joy stamped her feet in excitement. "Ohh, you're growing up so fast, Riley!"

"Why, soon she won' need you guys at all!" Libby chuckled.

Only to be met with horrified gasps.

"Just kiddin'!" She forestalled. "Don' worry, she'll need y'all forever'n then some."

"You gotta work on your sense of humour," Anger let himself chuckle. However, a soft hand on the shoulder was a far greater reward.

* * *

 

_back with Riley..._

"So am I... the only one who _wasn't_ in on this?" Riley looked around nervously.

"'Fraid so, honey," her mom laughed, holding a suspicious letter in her hand. "After you stopped replying to Jess' letters, she figured something was up, and sent a letter to me instead."

"The rest of us just rolled with it," Stevie grinned. "After all, Jess was happiest with you. She said it herself."

"Wow..." Riley stared at her feet. "I'm so sorry I doubted you, Jess!"

"Aww, don't be," the redhead smirked. "What's a love story without a little conflict?"

"Boring." Another voice croaked in answer for her, and several stunned eyes turned to see Amber. She smiled impishly, and said nothing more.

"Well then!" Jess ruffled Amber's big hair. "That brings your total up to what... three now?"

"Four if you count that time she told Bassist to go f-" Stevie began, only to get tackled to the ground by Bassist mid sentence.

"Eheh, oh yeah!" Jess exclaimed. "So that's four then!"

Bassist and Stevie continued to wrestle on the ground, while Amber just watched them patiently, and Riley's mom had somehow excused herself from the situation without being noticed, leaving Riley and Jess essentially alone together.

"Y'know, we still haven't finished that song..." the older girl grinned.

"Oh?" Riley was oblivious as always. "Where-where are we?"

"I'd say we're only at the intro," Jess traced her finger along Riley's arm. "Wanna show me a chorus, Ri-Ri?"

And Riley dissolved into a spluttery giggle as the two locked lips for the second time that day. Their song was far from over.

* * *

 

 

_The next day..._

"M-morning everyone!" Joy swallowed down a happy yawn. "Did you all sleep well?!"

She was greeted by the standard early morning grunts.

"Eheh, guess that was to be expected," Joy shrugged it off. "After all, it is - huh?"

Joy peered around a corner to find none other than Libby. Packing a suitcase?

"And just what are you up to, Pink?"

"O-oh hi there Sunshine!" Libby flustered. "I was just, uhh, packin' m'things."

"Leaving so soon?" Joy exchanged a glance.

"Well yeah..." The pink emotion drawled. "After all, there's nothin' more I can do here. Now ye'v learned Love, I don' need ta-"

"Ssshhhh...!" Joy silenced the pink emotion with a finger to the lips. "Why don't ya stick around? Could be fun!"

"Are ya sure you'd... actually wan' me?" Libby's eyes were shining.

"Well, of course we'd want you!" Joy flounced. "Your methods were a little... _controversial_ sometimes, but in the end you were doing it all for our girl! And that's all right by me! Whaddya say, guys?!"

Joy's exuberance was met with half hearted mumbles. Still too early in the morning, she supposed.

"I... think you should stay," a little blue emotion popped up out of nowhere. "You've shown that you always had Riley's best interests at heart, and-and you helped us fix her when she needed it most. That was... really neat of you, Libby!"

"Ohhh...!" Joy smirked. "Aww, c'mere y'all. How can I say no ta those big blue eyes?"

Joy folded her arms. "So you'll stay?"

"Long as ya need me," Libby grinned.

"You can stick around forever!" Joy span Libby around in a surprise hug.

_"And besides... Riley's a teenager now._

_What could happen?"_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! And that's it, folks! That's all she wrote!
> 
> Now, this little epilogue is a big rough, as there's still a couple of key lines I need to add to it, but hell, it's all but complete. Enough to appreciate at least.
> 
> For those who were angry with me over the misunderstanding, I apologise. I needed to use that trope for the sake of conflict and plot progression. Did it all turn out well?
> 
> Also, a mention to drunken hamster for correctly identifying that the mystery girl was indeed a relative of Jess', in this case her sister Katie. Good work, hamster.
> 
> As for everyone else, thank you, and goodnight!

**Author's Note:**

> Hai people. First time using an OC in one of these things, however that was mostly due to the lack of an appropriate partner. Given Pixar's time frame for this story, it would be hard to make a crossover canon. So... Yeah. I'll do my best :D


End file.
